Human error–induced risk in reinforced concrete bridge engineering

Abstract

Throughout the last century and in recent years, several bridge failures have taken place worldwide. Recent studies uncovered that the primary cause of these collapses was human errors in the design, construction, and operation phases. Regardless of this finding, there is still a considerable gap between this information and the known errors and the risk they represent for structural safety. Aiming for a better understanding of human errors, an identification procedure and a qualitative assessment of such errors considering risk-based indicators (probability of occurrence and consequence) was performed. Several brainstorming meetings with design and construction experts led to the identification of 49 relevant human errors, which were listed for further evaluation on a survey. Much more important than identifying and assessing these errors is identifying those that pose a greater threat to safety. Using a decision-making tool (analytical hierarchy process) to process all the information collected in the survey, the errors were ranked according to risk indicators. Furthermore, a qualitative risk assessment is performed, allowing the identification of the errors denoting higher risk for structural safety, according to experts’ opinions.