Fujino, T (1994) The development of a method for investigating construction site accidents using fuzzy fault tree analysis. PhD thesis, Ohio State University, USA.
Abstract
Accidents are a major problem in the construction field. Though many efforts to decrease them have been made, many accidents still occur. The author believes that countermeasures do not work well because of imprecise investigation. In construction sites, much decision-making, including the investigation of accidents, is based on subjective judgments. However, few systematic methods to make decisions based on subjective judgments have been proposed. In this research, Fuzzy Fault Tree Analysis (FFTA) is developed as one such method and applied to investigations of construction accidents. FFTA is generalized Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) using fuzzy set theory. We had three main considerations in the development of FFTA: event values, gate operations, and evaluation techniques. We used Boolean linguistic values as the event values. Next, the basic gates, AND and OR, were modified to fit the event values. To accommodate partial states of event values, three new gates--weighting sum, fuzzy sum and fuzzy logic--were created, which, with input(s), produce a mean value, yield a cumulative value and transform a universe of discourse, respectively. Finally, we developed the techniques for the evaluation of construction site safety from the point of view of each basic event and the top event. Minimal Event Path (MEP) effectiveness was proposed to find the effect of the basic events on the top event. Further, one suitable ranking index for FFTA was introduced on the basis of an evaluation of current ranking indices for fuzzy sets. As an application of FFTA, two types of construction accidents were analyzed: a bull-dozer-hit-worker and a crane-fall accident. In the expansion of the top event, we included the events that are usually represented subjectively. The analyzed fault tree was then applied in the investigation of two actual accidents. In this step, we used the evaluation of the top event to improve the site conditions. The results of the application studies show that FFTA can be an effective method for investigating construction site accidents using subjective judgments.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Hadipriono, F C |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction site; fuzzy logic; fuzzy set; safety |
| Index terms: | construction site accident, construction site, investigation, effectiveness, fault-tree analysis, judgment, fuzzy set theory, decision-making, construction accident, evaluation technique, fuzzy set, fuzzy fault tree, fuzzy logic |
| Subjects: | dispute resolution, data collection methods, data science, work location, occupational health and safety management, decision-making and optimization, health risk and incident analysis, risk assessment, decision analysis, evaluation and assessment methods, performance management, risk management |
| Topics: | Legal Issues, Research Practice, Site Management, Quality Management, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Digital Applications, Risk Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here