A detailed investigation of each occurred LoPC incident is essential for Bayer to improve safety, avoid future incidents and to strengthen safety awareness. But to look only at each incident individually is not enough as potential cause patterns cannot be found. The identification of common “leaks” and “flaws” is of utmost importance to identify weak points and to decide where to place effort for improvement measures. During the last years different systematic approaches for the analysis of incident patterns have been established at Bayer with different key objectives. The used “SIEVES” method which was developed in the end nineties at Bayer determines the underlying causes with a focus on more general aspects to facilitate an evaluation of the corporate safety strategy. The objective of incident pattern analysis which was established during the last years is to identify potential underlying patterns which may have contributed to repeating incidents through identification of repeating causes and conditions in the incident process. This systematic approach is also implemented in the corporate incident reporting system at Bayer. The pattern analyses show that the different causes and contributing factors are mainly related to the lack of competence and awareness of the people involved and less to pure technical reasons.
