Safety Tidbit 5.09 - Fault Tree Analysis

Safety Tidbit 5.09 – Fault Tree Analysis

References:                 Fault Tree Analysis https://www.smartdraw.com/fault-tree/

This Safety Tidbit was written by my student, Chris Howell – a senior in the Safety Sciences Program at the Indiana University of PA graduating Spring 2020.

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) was elaborated by engineers to improve the system safety of missiles. The reasoning for the development of the FTA was because most accidents result from failures inside of a system. There are four parts to a network, including equipment, material, people, and environmental factors. A negative occurrence could result in a near miss. A near miss is an accident that could happen, and that could result in damage to property, equipment, the environment, or personal injury.

There is a connection between the components of a system. If one of the parts fails, the whole system fails. Analytical trees use pictures to represent an event then following deductive reasoning in a top/down approach.

There are six basic symbols for an FTA and described in the table below:

FTA diagrams are not a function of the block or symbols. An FTA diagram is a function of the event. The event is what controls what the shape will be.

I hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.