Modeling the causes-effect relationships among major accident predictors based on a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method.

BACKGROUND: Finding the best practices for accident prevention is possible by identifying the influential factors affecting accident occurrence and their interactions as well as implementing corrective actions for the root cause factors. OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to determine the cause-effect relationships and the interaction of the influential factors affecting accident occurrence and determine the critical root factors. METHODS: This study was carried out based on the opinions of a panel of experts and used the fuzzy DEMATEL method. RESULTS: The results showed that "organization safety attitude", "safety communication", "work and safety training" and "safe design of systems" are root cause variables. Also, "work and safety knowledge" and "experience in the job" are individual cause variables. CONCLUSIONS: Organizational factors and some of individual variables are the critical factors that affect the occurrence of accidents. Therefore, corrective actions for accident prevention should primarily focus on the correction of these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]