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Adopting the AcciMap Methodology to Investigate a Major Power Blackout in the United States: Enhancing Electric Power Operations Safety

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Advances in Artificial Intelligence, Software and Systems Engineering (AHFE 2020)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 1213))

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Abstract

The electric power industry is an example of a high-risk system in which large-scale accidents occur. Conversely, there is a high dependence on electricity. According to Wang [1], the end use of electricity in the US was approximately 3.95 trillion kilowatt hours in 2018. Therefore, improving the safety of operations in the electric power industry is of paramount importance. Originally proposed by Rasmussen in 1997 [2], the AcciMap methodology is utilized in this paper to systematically analyze the Arizona-Southern California power outages of 2011 in the United States, identify its main contributing causes, and use that as a basis to develop prevention strategies. The AcciMap attempts to explain the context in which an accident occurred by highlighting socio-technical factors that contributed to the accident using a hierarchical framework. It also provides a detailed analysis of the interactions of different involved key players and decision makers.

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References

  1. Wang, T.: Electricity end use in the U.S. 1975–2018, 9 August 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/201794/us-electricity-consumption-since-1975/. Accessed 20 Oct 2019

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Correspondence to Maryam Tabibzadeh .

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Tabibzadeh, M., Lahiry, S. (2021). Adopting the AcciMap Methodology to Investigate a Major Power Blackout in the United States: Enhancing Electric Power Operations Safety. In: Ahram, T. (eds) Advances in Artificial Intelligence, Software and Systems Engineering. AHFE 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1213. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51328-3_79

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