Safety Wise

ICAM is the Incident Cause Analysis Method, an industrial safety initiative that draws on the work of the eminent organisational psychologist and human error expert Professor James Reason. The ICAM methodology was developed by Safety Wise Solutions' CEO, Gerry Gibb, with the assistance of Professor Reason, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and in consultation with safety representatives from industry. ICAM breaks new ground in the area of incident investigation which, in the past, has tended to focus on intentional or unintentional acts of human error – those things that people did or didn’t do – that led to an incident or accident (the “person model”). While this approach provides a superficial explanation of the incident, it does not consider the underlying factors that contributed to the actions, or the context in which they occurred. Considering only the transparent ‘active’ failures and unsafe acts, rather than identifying those potential causes or ‘latent conditions’ lying dormant within the system, limits the potential of an investigation to prevent the same event from recurring. ICAM is a holistic systemic safety investigation analysis method. It aims to identify both local factors and failures within the broader organisation and productive system that contributed to the incident, such as communication, training, operating procedures, incompatible goals, change management, organisational culture and equipment. Through the analysis of this information, ICAM provides the ability to identify what really went wrong and to make recommendations on necessary remedial actions to reduce risk and build error-tolerant defences against future incidents. The ICAM process incorporates best practice Human Factors and Risk Management principles.