Expert System for Construction Safety. I: Fault‐Tree Models

When a construction‐fall investigation is undertaken, the success of arriving at a conclusion depends on the available information and the expert's judgment to establish the possible and probable causes of the fall. In the first of a two‐part study, fault‐tree models are developed to explain the etiology of construction falls. These models represent the frame of knowledge concerning causal relationships of reasonable and possible causes of falls. Causes are classified as the enabling, triggering, and support‐related causes. Each cause is expanded to reach the basic and conditional causes that contribute to the fall. The analysis is limited to fault‐tree qualitative modeling for construction falls from elevated floor openings. The study resulted in 17 basic causes, four conditional causes, and 28 sets of combined basic and conditional causes that have the potential to contribute to a construction fall. Our study concludes the usefulness of fault‐tree models to systematically and logically represent an expert's knowledge.