Goals for a New Accident Model

Event-based models work best for accidents where one or several components fail, leading to a system failure or hazard. Accident models and explanations involving only simple chains of failure events, however, can easily miss subtle and complex 

The search for a new model, resulting in the accident model presented in part II, was driven by the following goals  

Encourage a shift in the emphasis in accident analysis from cause —which has a limiting, blame orientation—to understanding accidents in terms of reasons, that is, why the events and errors occurred [197]. Learning how to engineer safer systems is the goal here, not identifying whom to punish. 

Examine the processes involved in accidents and not simply events and conditions Processes control a sequence of events and describe changes and adaptations over time rather than considering events and human actions individually. 

Allow for and encourage multiple viewpoints and multiple interpretations when appropriate Operators, managers, and regulatory agencies may all have different views of the flawed processes underlying an accident, depending on the hierarchical level of the sociotechnical control structure from which the process is viewed. At the same time, the factual data should be separated from the interpretation of that data. 

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