Dynamic analysis of combat vehicle accidents

To the chagrin of well‐intentioned Army leaders, dozens of soldiers are killed each year as a result of combat vehicle accidents. The objective of this study is to look beyond the events and symptoms of accidents which normally indicate human error, and instead study the upper‐level organizational processes and problems that constitute the actual root causes of accidents. After a short review of the literature we report on our development of a system dynamics model. We then discuss the results of several simulations; these suggest that high‐level decisions that balance mission rate and operations tempo with troop availability, careful management of the work–rest cycle for deployed troops, and improvement of the processes for evaluating the lessons learned from accidents would lead to a reduction in Army combat vehicle accidents.