Background: Accident investigation programs are a necessary part in identification of risks and management of the business process.
Objectives: One of the most important features of such programs is the analysis technique for identifying the root causes of accidents in order to prevent their recurrences. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to compare management oversight and risk tree (MORT) with Tripod-Beta in order to determine the superior technique for analysis of fatal excavation accidents in construction industries.
Materials and Methods: MORT and Tripod-Beta techniques were used for analyzing two major accidents with three main steps. First, these techniques were applied to find out the causal factors of the accidents. Second, a number of criteria were developed for the comparison of the techniques and third, using AHP, the techniques were prioritized in terms of the criteria for choosing the superior one.
Results: The Tripod-Beta investigation showed 41 preconditions and 81 latent causes involved in the accidents. Additionally, 27 root causes of accidents were identified by the MORT analysis. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) investigation revealed that MORT had higher priorities only in two criteria than Tripod-Beta.
Conclusions: Our findings indicate that Tripod-Beta with a total priority of 0.664 is superior to MORT with the total priority of 0.33. It is recommended for future research to compare the available accident analysis techniques based on proper criteria to select the best for accident analysis.