Systematic Investigation of Pipeline Accidents Using the AcciMap Methodology: The Case Study of the San Bruno Gas Explosion

Abstract

There is a high dependence on pipeline transport in the world including the U.S. The U.S. has the largest network of natural gas pipeline in the world; approximately 3 million miles pipeline [1]. Conversely, large-scale accidents have occurred in the pipeline transport industry. This paper investigates the San Bruno Gas Explosion, which occurred on September 9, 2010 in San Bruno, California by utilizing a systematic accident investigation methodology called AcciMap, originally proposed by Rasmussen in 1997 [2]. This graphical representation provides a big-picture to illustrate the context in which the accident occurred, by capturing the socio-technical factors that contributed to the accident across different defined layers of the AcciMap framework, as well as the interactions between those layers. Our analysis shows that apart from external contributing causes; i.e. factors related to government and regulatory bodies, organizational factors, among internal factors, were the root causes of the San Bruno gas explosion.