A socio-technical approach to food safety incident analysis using the AcciMap model in the hospitality sector

A theory-based systems approach, such as AcciMap accident analysis, has been widely used over the years in multiple safety critical sectors such as the nuclear, petrochemical, aviation and railway industries to provide a detailed understanding of complex systems and the chain of events contributing to accidents resulting from system failure. However, despite its advantages, the use of a systems approach in the food safety context has to date been limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate three established norovirus incidents using the AcciMap accident analysis approach to determine its efficacy at informing the design of food safety policies following a norovirus outbreak to prevent reoccurrence. This approach was found to be of value in analysing norovirus outbreaks. The findings of the AcciMap analysis reveal the norovirus outbreaks were not the outcome of a single causal incident, but a chain of events and interactions that involved governmental failure to control and enforce safety regulations and the impact on managerial and individual behaviours at a lower level in the system. The analysis identified the common contributory factors such as poor inspections, lack of regular monitoring of quality of water supply, inadequate management of wastewater and ineffective communication that led to each incident across the hierarchical levels within a socio-technical system. The value of using the AcciMap approach is that it does not constrain the analysis to individual components or particular types of incident allowing for a more holistic and interconnected risk assessment.