Root Cause Analysis Of Accidents In Infrastructure Project
Keywords:
Infrastructure Safety; Root Cause Analysis; Construction Accidents; Safety Management; Risk Assessment; 5-Why Technique; Fishbone AnalysisAbstract
This paper is focused on the identification of the underlying causes of large-scale infrastructure accidents in India based on a comparative analysis of Morbi Suspension Bridge collapse (2022), Delhi Metro bridge collapse (2009), and Silkyara Bend–Barkot Tunnel collapse (2023). Qualitative multiple case study design was used in the research, where secondary data taken from investigation reports, technical literature, academic researches and other publicly accessible sources were analyzed. The research techniques that were used included 5-Why technique and Fishbone Analysis for identification of the immediate causes, contributory factors and root causes of the studied events. Based on the obtained results, one can conclude that despite of the various technical triggers of the accidents – structure failure, temporary works failure, and geological instability – similar organizational problems were found among the cases. Risk assessment, safety planning, supervision, safety audit, regulation and emergency planning proved to be the major contributory factors. Management failure proved to be one of the major root causes, confirming that infrastructure accidents are not only due to technical issues.
References
Medaa, E., Shirzadi Javid, A. A., & Malekitabar, H. (2025). Evolution of Risk Analysis Approaches in Construction Disasters: A Systematic Review of Construction Accidents from 2010 to 2025. Buildings, 15(20), 3701.
Sharma, P., Agarwal, S., & Dwivedi, R. D. (2025, October). Analysis of Major Tunnel Accidents: Identifying Causes, Extracting Key Lessons, and Suggesting Effective Safety Measures. In Asian Mining Congress (pp. 339-351). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Sharma, P., Agarwal, S., & Dwivedi, R. D. (2025, October). Analysis of Major Tunnel Accidents: Identifying Causes, Extracting Key Lessons, and Suggesting Effective Safety Measures. In Asian Mining Congress (pp. 339-351). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Sruthilaya, D., Vilventhan, A., & Gopal, P. R. C. (2024). Analysis of project complexity factors and their interdependencies in metro rail projects. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 14(2), 260-277.
Morris, S. M. (2020). Development of a risk management framework for tunnel construction in India. International Journal of Engineering Research and, 9(06).
Rajendran, R. (2018). Bridge failures case studies in India (2016-2019).
Kudtarkar, S. (2022). Critical analysis of PPP model in infrastructure sector in India (Doctoral dissertation, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies).
Sousa, R. L., & Einstein, H. H. (2021). Lessons from accidents during tunnel construction. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 113, 103916.
Donga, A., Prasad, K. V., Kumaran, G. S., Sagathiya, K., & Vasugi, V. (2023). An investigation into the causes of delays in the construction of Metro Rail Projects in India. Building smart, resilient and sustainable infrastructure in developing countries, 235.
Deng, Y., Song, L., Zhou, J., Xu, N., Ni, G., & Wang, L. (2020). Analysis of failures and influence factors of critical infrastructures: a case of metro. Advances in Civil Engineering, 2020(1), 2301276.
Das, S., & Devkar, G. (2022). Harnessing social media data for analyzing public inconvenience in construction of Indian metro rail projects. CSI Transactions on ICT, 10(2), 107-120.
Prabhakaran, B., & Arokiaprakash, A. (2024, October). Study and analysis of risk management in Chennai metro rail infrastructure projects. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 3187, No. 1, p. 030013). AIP Publishing LLC.
Shelake, A. G., Gogate, N. G., & Khatu, D. R. (2025). Activity-centric risk analysis for delay prediction in Indian tunnel projects. Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, 42(3-4), 357-385.
Zhang, D., Zhang, H., & Cheng, T. (2020). Causes of delay in the construction projects of subway tunnel. Advances in civil engineering, 2020(1), 8883683.
MAINA, G. N. (2015). An investigation into the impact of failure in the planning phase of mega infrastructure projects (case study: road safety on Thika superhighway). Unpublished Dissertation, University of Nairobi, Kenya. Available from: http://erepository. uonbi. ac. ke/bitstream/handle/11295/90119/Maina_An% 20Investigation% 20Into% 20the% 20Impact% 20of% 20Failure% 20in% 20the% 20Planning% 20Phase% 20of% 20Mega% 20In frastructure% 20Projects, 20.
Downloads
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
