HSE Incident Investigation Methods Reference 2026

This dataset provides a structured reference for nine widely-used health, safety, and environment (HSE) incident investigation and root-cause analysis (RCA) methods. Each row documents a single method with its abbreviation, verified origin, primary use case, key analytical steps, expected output, key strengths, and known limitations. All entries are drawn from peer-reviewed literature, original developer documentation, or widely-cited practitioner references.
The methods covered span systematic process improvement (5 Whys, Fishbone/Ishikawa, FMEA), safety-critical systems engineering (Fault Tree Analysis, Bowtie), human-factors-centred investigation (ICAM, Tripod Beta), and commercial investigation frameworks (TapRoot). The dataset is intended as a lookup reference for HSE professionals selecting an appropriate investigation methodology, for software developers building investigation workflow tools, and for researchers comparing framework characteristics.
Fields include: method name, standard abbreviation, documented origin (organisation or author with approximate date where well-established), best-fit scenario, key analytical steps (semicolon-delimited), primary output artefact, up to four strengths, and up to four limitations. No proprietary scoring rubrics or vendor-specific variants are included.
Data was compiled in May 2026 from publicly available sources including original developer publications, ISO/IEC standards references, and widely-cited HSE practitioner guides. This dataset is released under CC BY 4.0.