Accident analysis
Accident analysis is carried out in order to determine the
cause or causes of an accident or series of accidents so as
to prevent further incidents of a similar kind. It is also
known as accident investigation. It may be performed by
a range of experts, including forensic scientists, forensic
engineers or health and safety advisers. Accident investi-
gators, particularly those in the aircraft industry, are col-
loquially known as "tin-kickers".[1]
1 Sequence
Accident analysis is performed in four steps:
1. Fact gathering: After an accident happened a
forensic process starts to gather all possibly relevant
facts that may contribute to understanding the acci-
dent.
Many models have been described to characterise and
2. Fact Analysis: After the forensic process has been analyse accidents. A list of many of the models, with
completed or at least delivered some results, the references, is available here:.[2]
facts are put together to give a “big picture.” The
history of the accident is reconstructed and checked
for consistency and plausibility.
3. Conclusion Drawing: If the accident history is
sufficiently informative, conclusions can be drawn
about causation and contributing factors.
4. Counter-measures: In some cases the development
of counter-measures is desired or recommendations
have to be issued to prevent further accidents of the
same kind.
2 Methods
There exist numerous forms of Accident Analysis meth-
ods. These can be divided into three categories:
1. Causal Analysis uses the principle of causality to
determine the course of events. Though people ca-
sually speak of a “chain of events”, results from
Causal Analysis usually have the form of directed a-
cyclic graphs – the nodes being events and the edges
the cause-effect relations. Methods of Causal Anal-
ysis differ in their respective notion of causation.
2. Expert Analysis relies on the knowledge and expe-
rience of field experts. This form of analysis usually
1
lacks a rigorous (formal/semiformal) methodologi-
cal approach. This usually affects falsify-ability and
objectivity of analyses. This is of importance when
conclusions are heavily disputed among experts.
3. Organizational Analysis relies on systemic theo-
ries of organization. Most theories imply that if
a system’s behaviour stayed within the bounds of
the ideal organization then no accidents can oc-
cur. Organizational Analysis can be falsified and
results from analyses can be checked for objectiv-
ity. Choosing an organizational theory for accident
analysis comes from the assumption that the system
to be analysed conforms to that theory.
3 Models
4 Using digital photographs to ex-
tract evidence
Once all available data has been collected by accident
scene investigators and law enforcement officers, camera
matching, photogrammetry or rectification can be used to
determine the exact location of physical evidence shown
in the accident scene photos.
1. Camera matching: Camera matching uses acci-
dent scene photos that show various points of evi-
dence. The technique uses CAD software to create
a 3-dimensional model of the accident site and road-
way surface. All survey data and photos are then
imported into a three dimensional software package
like 3D Studio Max. A virtual camera can be then be
positioned relative to the 3D roadway surface. Phys-
ical evidence is then mapped from the photos onto
the 3D roadway to create a three dimensional acci-
dent scene drawing.
2. Photogrammetry: Photogrammetry is used to de-
termine the three-dimensional geometry of an ob-
ject on the accident scene from the original two di-
mensional photos. The photographs can be used
2 8 EXTERNAL LINKS

to extract evidence that may be lost after the ac- 7 References

cident is cleared. Photographs from several view-
points are imported into software like PhotoMod-
eler. The forensic engineer can then choose points
common to each photo. The software will calculate
the location of each point in a three dimensional co-
ordinate system.
“Accident Investigation”. U.S. Department of Labor,
Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Archived
from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-
12.

3. Rectification: Photographic rectification is also

used to analyze evidence that may not have been
8 External links
measured at the accident scene. Two dimensional
rectification transforms a single photograph into a • Acci-Maps
top-down view. Software like PC-Rect can be used
• Safety through Organisational Learning (SOL)
to rectify a digital photograph.[3]
• Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Process
(STAMP)
5 See also • U.S. National Transportation Safety Board

• Why-Because Analysis (WBA)

Accident analysis methods

• Accident

• Debugging

• Failure mode and effects analysis

• Forensic engineering

• Forensic science

• Why-Because Analysis

• AcciMap Analysis

Related Disciplines

• Safety engineering

• Trace evidence

• Human factors, Human reliability, and Pilot error

6 Footnotes
[1] Faith, Nicholas (1997). Black Box: Why Air Safety Is No
Accident. Zenith Imprint. p. 6. ISBN 0-7603-0400-9.

[2] Taylor, G.A., Easter, K.M., Hegney, R.P. (2004). En-

hancing Occupational Safety and Health. Elsevier. pp.
241–245, see also pages 140–141 and pages 147–153.
ISBN 0750661976.

[3] Extracting Physical Evidence from Digital Photographs

for use in Forensic Accident Reconstruction, David Dana-
her, P.E., Jeff Ball, Ph.D., P.E., and Mark Kittel, P.E
2012-06-15.
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9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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