The Explosives Incidents Database Advisory Service (EIDAS)
Abstract
Important lessons can be learnt from past mistakes. Careful analysis of the causes and effects of accidents can point to measures which can reduce both the chance and severity of further incidents. For this reason it is important that detailed information on accident circumstances, causes and effects be recorded and made widely available. Information on explosives accidents is likely to be of particular value to regulatory authorities, defence agencies, emergency services and safety consultancies as well as organisations which manufacture, process, store, transport or use explosives. Before the advent of computerized databases, the recording and analyzing of accident data was often haphazard. Periodic weeding of paper records from files was not uncommon and this often resulted in the permanent loss of details of minor accidents, including those where a catastrophic outcome had been avoided because of fortuitous circumstances. However, the information contained in such records can provide valuable insights into the risks of an activity and any organization wishing to assess safety performance should systematically record and monitor such information. Whilst there has been a tendency for organizations to keep permanent records of major accidents, experience shows that these can prove difficult to retrieve: this information, in the form of official reports, articles in learned journals, conference proceedings etc, is often stored in diverse files and archives, and a painstaking search is thus sometimes necessary to uncover details about a specific accident or particular types of accidents. There is thus a need for a service which collects information on explosives accidents, analyzes that information and stores it in a way such that it can be readily retrieved.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA498026
Entities
People
- Gregor Lang
- P. A. Sexstone
- P.a. Moreton