An overview of data collection systems and their characteristics

The function of this document is to provide an overall framework within which to describe the important aspects of data collection systems. The emphasis on data collection in this document will be on methods for identifying the causes of errors that have led to accidents or significant near misses.

What you will learn

This information is used to prevent the reoccurrence of previous accidents, and to identify the underlying causes that may give rise to new types of accidents in the future. Data collection thus has a proactive accident prevention function, even though it is retrospective in the sense that it is usually carried out `after the event` (an actual accident or near miss).