An AcciMap for the Kleen Energy Power Plant Project Explosion

Abstract

Project accidents, especially accidents and disasters in the industrial sector continue to occur, in most cases with tragic consequences involving the loss of lives [1]. Long-term research shows that there is a vital need for application of systemic cause-consequence analysis techniques that embrace all aspects of the system [2–5]. Such analyses aim to provide safety by finding ways to prevent potential accidents in large-scale projects [6, 7]. This paper analyses the cause of a large explosion that occurred during the construction stage, at the Kleen Energy power plant project in United States, on 7th of February 2010 [1, 8–10]. To this end, a causal analysis of the project explosion has been conducted based on Rasmussen’s [11, 12] AcciMap technique. The AcciMap is a systemic accident analysis technique, which is focused on the performance of the system as a whole [4, 12, 13].