A Computer-Aided Technique for Identifying Latent Conditions (CATILaC)

Abstract:

An incident investigation methodology has been developed to better place operating experience into an organisational context. It uses the concept of work processes to suggest the locations of organisational deficiencies that contributed to an event. To guide an analyst through this methodology, a software package has been developed which offers suggestions about where corrective actions and further investigation should be directed after an event. In this paper, the methodology is introduced, the software development is discussed, and a sample event is analysed. Comparisons are made to existing incident analysis methods and areas for future work are outlined. Although the discussion is geared toward nuclear power plant applications, the methodology is applicable to any type of highly proceduralised and structured organisation.