Major structural failures of heavy mobile machines may have multiple contributing causes in addition to the technical issues normally considered in structural design codes. In this paper the authors have applied methods proposed by Reason (1997) to investigate organizational factors involved in structural failures for which detailed information was available. Implications for risk management of structures are then identified.
Reason (1997) proposes that there are two types of accidents: individual and organizational. Organizational accidents can be catastrophic often affecting uninvolved people, assets and the environment.