View investigation Tools, Guides, Manuals, Tutorials, Simulations and Books, which I created or to which I made substantial contributions over the years..

TOOLS.

• A set of MS Word tools, with a user manual and tutorial, has been created to enable individuals to perform quality evaluations of reported descriptions of how and why accidents, incidents, environmental releases, fires, and other kinds of events occurred. View or download the MDQA Kit package.
  

GUIDES.

Self-help Learning Resources for achieving efficient, effective and timely explanatory descriptions of occurrences during investigations of all kinds for use with STEP-MES Technology-based Investigations.

• View summary of STEP-MES Investigation Task Rules for developing descriptions of what happened during accidents.

• Investigator's Model of Human Decision Process. View model and investigation guidance to help investigators understand human actions during accident or incident processes, and avoid "hindsight bias." The event-signal-response sequence can also be applied to traking object control sytem behaviors on STEP-MES matrix arrays.

• INTRODUCTION TO 11 STEP-MES INVESTIGATION GUIDES

• Guide 1. Developing STEP-MES Building Blocks (EB Guide)

• Guide 2. Building STEP-MES Matrix arays (MATRIX Guide)

• Guide 3. Filling Gaps in STEP-MES Arrays (BackSTEP Guide)

• Guide 4. Acquiring STEP-MES Input Data BBs (Sources Guide)

• Guide 5. Using Energy Trace & Barrier Analyses (ETBA Guide)

• Guide 6. Creating Investigation Test Plans (TEST Plan Guide)

• Guide 7. Management Oversight and Risk Tree (MORT Guide)

• Guide 8. Using Time/Loss Analysis (T/LA Guide)

• Guide 9. User Action Needs Development (USER NEEDS Guide)

• Guide 10. User Response Action (USER ACTION Guide)

INVESTIGATION AND WORK PRODUCT QUALITY ASSURANCE

• Guide 11 Quality Assurance Procedures (QA Guide)

FIELD INVESTIGATION GUIDES

Practical knowledge, skill and procedures guidance for investigators charged with determining what happened and why it happened, after accidents, hazmat incidents and fires, is presented in four guides created f in 1996-97 primarily for public service investigators. Guides are now out of print but originally a companion guide to a video film with the same title, published by the International Fire Service Training Association, Fire Protection Publications, Stillwell OK.1997 and later distributed by the Emergency Film Group. They are posted here for reference by investigators who are interested in improving their investigation knowledge and skills by exploring and applying alternative methods for investigations and investigation quality assurance processes.
The Table of Contents and .pdf files with each Guide are on line here.

NOTE: These guides have not been updated to recent the 2018 guide standards, but they still constitute useful investigation information for reference purposes.

1. Guide 1 INTRODUCTION TO INVESTIGATION. View Table of Contents. View the Guide.

2. Guide 2 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION. View Table of Contents. View, the Guide .

3. Guide 3 HAZMAT INVESTIGATION. View Table of Contents. View, the Guide .

4. Guide 4 FIRE INVESTIGATION. View Table of Contents. View the Guide .

MANUALS.

1. Hazardous Materials Emergencies. Benner, L., Lufred Industries, Inc., 1976.
   This small book was published to use in a Fire Science hazardous materials emergency response course I taught at Montgomery College, MD. It presented information needed to help systematize emergency response decision making during incidents where hazmat might be present, based on a new paradigm for hazmat responders. It contains 16 sessions outlines, and supplemental exercises for students. View on line version.

2. Hazardous Materials Emergencies Student Workbook.
   This workbook contains examples of school solutions to the questions posed to the students in the Hazardous Materials Emergencies book for use primarily by instructors, but available to students at the completion of the course. View online here.

3. MES Handbook. 1989. This pocket guide for investigators was originally created to support manual implementation of STEP, and recently retitled to reflect the STEP-MES system. A pdf file is available by clicking here for anyone who might like to read the content or print the Handbook. A Microsoft Word file of the document is accessible by clicking here for anyone who might wish to edit the handbook for use by today's investigators.

4. System Safety Analysis Handbook, published by the System Safety Society, 1999. Contributed two techniques, for mishap investigation and emergency response evaluations.(p 3-332,389)

5. Over 30 Accident Investigation and analysis methods, and many investigation courses are available o the Internet. See list of methods. A November 2017 Google search of "accident investigation manual" produced 216,000 results. A May 2018 search for Accident Investigation books produced 2100 results. Drfts of working papers addressing the consequences of this situaiton can be made available by containg "luben" at this web site.

TUTORIALS.

Tutorials on various subjects related primarily to accident investigation processes which I created are listed here. 1,000s of other investigation training courses and presentations can be identified on the Internet, reflecting the many views of what accidents are, why they should be investigated and how they should be investigated.

1. An Investigation Tutorials Menu for familiarization with support software for STEP-MES investigations, and instructions for using major investigation tools in investigations are found here. . The information is useful for numerous aspects of investigations where the tools described can enhance any investigation process.
   Tutorials include:

   • Fast Overview Tutorial
     • How to recognize features of Investigation Catalyst
   • Incident Investigation
     • How to use Investigation Catalyst during incident investigations
   • Witness Interview Preparation Tasks
     • How to use Investigation Catalyst to prepare for Witness Interviews
   • Recommendation Development Task
     • How to use Investigation Catalyst to develop the best changes to improve future performance
   • Quality Assurance
     • How to use Investigation Catalyst to determine the quality of investigation reports
   • Hazard Analysis Tasks
     • How to use Investigation Catalyst to support Hazard Analyses Tasks
   • Change Mangement Support Tasks
     • How to use Investigation Catalyst to support Change Management

    

2. A Investigating Lessons Learning System Flaws and Fixes.. Coauthored tutorial presented to the System Safety Society's Washington DC Chapter in 2008 can be viewed by clicking here. It presents a systems analysis of lessons learned practices and functions.

3. Lessons Learning System Analysis and Assessment Coauthored tutorial presented at International System Safety Society's August 2009 Seminar, Huntsville, AL. Proposes criteria for self-assessment of lessons learning practices that safety and risk analysts might encounter, and how to use them. View Tutorial.

SIMULATIONS

Four simulations of challenges accident investigators face during investigations are available for groups of eight ten to thirty participants. Documentation is available in a small 60 page book "4 Accident Games: Simulations of the Accident Process,"in an Instructor Manual for teachers, and an accompanying Student Workbook.

1. Game 1 addresses the issue of conflicting interests present in any mishap investigation.

2. Game 2 addresses the issue of successfully accessing information "recorded" by individuals during a mishap.

3. Game 3 addresses the challenge of extracting data from things during investigations.

4. Game 4 illustrates the issue of investigation methodology selection, and how that decision affects outcomes.

View or download the Instructor Manual.
View or download the Student Workbook.
See Forward to Instructor Manual for more information.

BOOKS.

Note: I have a copy of some of these books to lend to qualified parties if they can not be acquired from any other source.

1. Hazardous Materials Emergencies. Benner, L., Lufred Industries, Inc., 1976. This small book was published to use in a Fire Science hazardous materials emergency response course I taught at Montgomery College, MD. It presented information needed to help systematize emergency response decision making during incidents where hazmat might be present, based on a new paradigm for hazmat responders. It contains 16 sessions outlines, and supplemental exercises for students.

2. Hazardous Materials Emergencies Student Workbook. Benner, L. and Hildebrand, Lufred Industries, Inc.,1980. Shows why traditional fire service responses were not applicable to hazmat emergencies, leads students through event charting methods, and provides exercises for all 16 sessions of the Hazardous Materials Emergencies book. Appendix provides worksheets with flow charts of example emergencies, allowing students to devise interventions. View on line version.

3. Hazardous Materials Emergencies Instructor's Manual. Benner, L. Contains 16 session instructional goals and suggestions for handouts and tests for use in D.E.C.I.D.E. process instruction course.

4. INVESTIGATING ACCIDENTS WITH STEP, Hendrick and Benner, 1986, published by Marcel Dekker, New York/Basel. ISBN 0-8247-7510-4. Introduces research-defining multilinear events sequencing-based investigation system and procedures, based on premise that accidents are processes. Focus is on understanding, describing and explaining phenomena, and then developing and assessing actions to improve future performance. Contains comparative analyses of accident models and investigation methodologies, references to 20+ investigation manuals, plus investigation tools and models.

5. HANDBOOK OF INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION PART 8.1, Shell, R.L. and Hall, E.L. (Ed), ISBN 0-8247-0373-1, Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York, NY 2000. This book contains Section 8. Investigation Programs, which I authored. A Table of Contents describes the topics included in this book.

6. Guidelines for Investigating Chemical Process Incidents Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) , 2003. Contributed some text to Investigation Methodologies section.