Networks and Distributed Systems
Research group of Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Ph.D.
First Bieleschweig Workshop on Root Cause Analysis and Risk Analysis
The First Workshop was held on December 17-18, 2002 at the Zentrum fü Interdiziplinäre Forschung (ZiF) at the University of Bielefeld. There were twenty-six participants, seven talks, and two one-and-a-half hour discussion sessions. The theme of the workshop was the application and comparison of various methods of root-causal analysis. The first discussion identified a number of accidents to be analysed by various methods, and volunteers to perform the analyses by May 2003. The methods to be used and compared are SOL, WBA, STAMP and KI. The second discussion identified evaluation criteria to be used in the comparisons. A "handbook" of these criteria, their meaning and intended application, will appear here shortly
- The Program and Other Details
- List of Participants
- Ladkin: ACAS and the South German Midair
The South German midair collision of July 1, 2002 is discussed. First, by the Counterfactual Test, ACAS use was a causal factor. Second, exactly in what does the ACAS system itself consist? One must first determine in what the system consists before deciding whether it failed.
Ladkin: Slides from the Talk [PDF]
Paper: ACAS and the South German Midair [HTML]
- Fahlbruch: Safety through Organisational Learning (SOL): an in-depth
event analysis methodology
SOL is a method for detecting, classifying and analysing causes of incidents and accidents. It is based on established science of organisational behavior and is supported through software tools. It is the method of choice for the German nuclear power industry.
Fahlbruch: Slides from the Talk [PDF]
- Lemke: Analysis of the Brühl railway accident using Why-Because
Analysis
The Brühl derailment accident was analysed using WBA. The resulting WB-Graph is discussed, as well as lessons learnt concerning the use of WBA for such analyses.
Lemke: Slides from the Talk [German, PDF]
WB-Graph of the Brühl Accident [PDF]
- Sieker: WBA and the Concorde Accident
In the first half of this talk, the support toolset ciedit and its backend processors for easy construction of WB-Graphs is presented. In the second half, a WB-Analysis of the accident to the Concorde aircraft in Paris is given and results of the analysis concerning causal factors are compared with those of the official investigation.
Sieker: Slides, print version [PDF]
- Braband: Application of Why-Because Graphs to Railway Near-Misses: An
industrial case study
Experience with the deployment of Why-Because Analysis in Siemens Transportation Systems Rail Automation Division is presented.
Braband: Slides from the Talk [PDF]
Paper in IRIA 2002 Proceedings [PDF, large]
- Wiryana: Analysing DNS Incidents
Two incidents using DNS in cases of domain identity spoofing are analysed using WBA. These cases are less amenable to analysis using Attack Trees or Attack Patterns because they do not constitute attacks in the usual sense. Indeed, they involve only legitimate, although arguably socially inappropriate, use of Internet facilities.
Wiryana: Slides from the Talk [PDF]
- Emmet: Introduction and Demonstration of the ASCE Tool for Safety Case
Document Construction
The ASCE software tool from Adelard is presented and its capabilities as a "pliant system" for supporting safety case construction is demonstrated.
Emmet Paper: Graphical Notations, Narratives, and Persuasion: A Pliant Systems Approach to Hypertext Tool Design [PDF]
- Notes
from the Discussion (Emmet) [HTML]
This document, produced in real time during discussion with the ACSE tool, are mainly for the use of workshop participants. They consist mainly of a selection of cases for comparison of root-causal analysis methods along with an assignment of workshop participants who will produce case studies using the various methods; and a preliminary list of comparison criteria that will form the core of the Comparison Criteria Handbook for root-causal analysis methods.