What is Tripod Beta?

Tripod Beta is a 'gold standard' incident investigation and analysis methodology.

Tripod Beta is a flexible and scientifically developed incident investigation and analysis methodology.  First developed in the 1990s, Tripod Beta is tried and tested, with a network of practitioners based all over the world.  The Tripod Foundation maintains and updates the Tripod Beta methodology regularly, and has a network of accredited practitioners and trainers.  The Energy Institute publishes the official Tripod Beta user guide, and accredited trainers regularly run public and in-house Tripod Beta training courses.

Key features of Tripod Beta

Barrier-based - Tripod Beta specifically identifies the barriers (i.e. risk controls) that failed or were missing (or worked in the case of a near miss).  Tripod Beta will be familiar to those who understand and use bow tie diagrams.

Human factors - Tripod Beta identifies the psychological, environmental, and job factors that led to the incident.

Underlying causes - Tripod Beta identifies the organisational underlying causes of the incident, i.e. issues with leadership, culture, systems and policies.

Flexible - Tripod Beta models allows for even the most complex incidents to be simply modelled and understood, and is equally effective for simpler incidents.

Optional software - While not required, the Tripod Beta methodology can be supported by software that provides the means to collect and assemble the facts from the investigation and to manipulate them on screen into a graphical representation of the incident and its causes. The software is independent of Tripod Foundation/Energy Institute, and is owned and sold by Wolters Kluwer. For information and to obtain a trial license, please visit Wolters Kluwer.

Tripod Beta cannot effectively be used without training.  It is highly recommended that users are trained to at least Bronze level (see Tripod training below).  For those expected to lead investigations, you should be trained to at least Silver or Gold level (see Tripod accreditation below).

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