Investigating incidents introduction

The accident investigation report is the major result of the investigation. In general, the format should be flexible and designed specifically to best explain the accident. The format may include the following sections (1) introduction, (2) process description (equipment and chemistry), (3) incident description, (4) investigation results, (5) discussion, (6) conclusions, and (7) layered recommendations. 

The body of the report may include an introduction summarizing the occurrence or incident, the incident investigation team members, and the scope of the investigation. Background information for the facility (unit) includes such items as history, age, size, expansions, major occurrences, and technical sophistication as necessary to understand the occurrence. 

In spectroscopic investigations, the intensity transmitted or reflected by the sample is compared with the intensity of the incident light at a given wavelength or frequency thus, with a spectrometer, intensities and wavelengths are measured simultaneously. Intensities are determined by means of an infrared detector. Clearly, the performance of the detector is just as important to the spectroscopist, as that of the source, but these and other problems of infrared technique are beyond the scope of this introduction and the reader is referred to the literature 3.3). 

The HoUnagel s illustrative picture (see Introduction) may be now interpreted as a consequence and illustration of gradual development of investigators views towards the complete picture of safety management structure and Incident Cause Levels. 

Isotopic investigations are widely used in soil/plant nutritional and pollution studies. Introduction of an isotope by design or accident enables specific fractions or pools to be labeled, making it possible to follow rates of exchange between soil matrices soil solution-plant uptake and drainage water. The usefulness of this technique ultimately depends upon the availability of an isotope, with a suitable half-life. A number of recent pollution incidents have involved both stable (lead petroleum additions) and radioisotopes (including and 1). 

A significant improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio in detection of low levels of radiation can be achieved with single-photon counting techniques, which enable spectroscopic investigations to be performed at incident radiation fluxes down to 10 " W. These techniques are discussed in Sect. 4.5.5. More details about photomultipliers and optimum conditions of performance can be found in excellent introductions issued by EMI or RCA [4.131,4.132]. An extensive review of photoemissive detectors has been given by Zwicker [4.123] see also the monographs [4.133,4.134]. 

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