Cast analysis – floodings in Piracicaba, Brazil (summer 2020)

Abstract

There have been several flood events in our country, notably in the Southeast Region, in the last decades, where the public management faces natural causes, such as storms with heavy rains and winds, causing landslides, flooding in urban centers and, consequently, losses. According to Leveson (2019, p. 34):  CAST (Causal Analysis Based on Systems Theory) is a structured technique to analyse accident causality from a systems perspective. CAST is an analysis method, not an investigation technique. But performing the CAST analysis as the investigation proceeds will assist in identifying what questions need to be answered and what information needs to be gathered during the investigation in order to create a comprehensive explanation as to why the loss occurred and to help formulate recommendations to prevent related accidents in the future. The CAST, as an approach after the occurrence, links to STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis) methodology (prior to the accident). This aims to analyse an event – which may or may not result in an accident – the way that its parts, acting systemically, can be studied, reaching the confrontation of the insecure condition(s) through effective actions. The /CAST methodology was herein applied to the event “Floods in the summer of 2020 in Piracicaba/SP”. This event provides analysis completeness, according to this model. Several intervening factors are sought in this study; the accident considered here are the floods that generated material losses in the city: e.g. destroyed buildings, streets and houses flooded, leading to losses.