


transferred copyright of the Tripod Beta methodology to the Stichting Tripod Foundation, a charitable body under Dutch law. In 1998, following publicity of Tripod Beta, Shell International Exploration and Production B.V. Two software-based tools were developed: Bow Tie and Tripod Beta, respectively. That gave the team the ability for the first time to create graphical representations of the theories developed. In 1992 Microsoft released windows version 3.1. The team worked closely with Leiden and Manchester Universities to the understanding of accident causation that had been developed in the 1984-2000 research program. That team worked until 2004 they developed a number of approaches, the EP forum (later the Oil and Gas Producers Association) guidance on Safety cases was founded on work by that team. initial Tripod Investigation followed a tabular approach as graphical program was not yet availableįollowing the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and Lord Cullen report in 1990, Shell International created a team to look at Safety management systems and Safety Cases. The incident investigation methodology whilst always part of the research came later around 1990. The early research focused on a predictive tool to identify underlying causes of incidents before they occurred rather than an incident investigation methodology This would later become the basis for Tripod Delta. If we can identify those failures and take action to remove them we will reduce the probability of accidents.People are usually well intended, trying to get their task done despite the imperfections in the system.Those 'imperfections' are known by some of the people before the incident occurs.Those underlying causes, metaphorically comparable with 'pathogens' are present long before an accident occurs.The underlying causes of controls failing are due to underlying causes in the way we manage.Accidents happen because controls fail (now known as the Swiss Cheese model).The research was based on the following hypotheses Such research contributed towards the development of the Swiss cheese model of accident causation, and in the late 1990s and early 2000s, towards the development of the Hearts and Minds safety culture toolkit. as the result of Shell-funded academic research in the 1980s and 1990s. Tripod Beta was developed by Shell International Exploration and Production B.V.
