System Safety for the 21st Century, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 5The Future of System Safety

MORE FIRST‐TIME SAFE SYSTEMS

System safety evolved as a discipline because of a compelling need for first‐time safety in systems where accidents could be catastrophic. During the three decades since the origins of system safety, the number of systems with the potential for catastrophic failure has dramatically increased. In addition to expanded requirements in the nuclear and aerospace industries, catastrophic losses in terms of injury, property damage, and environmental impact can result from single mishaps in surface transportation, chemical operations, facilities, and conventional weapon systems. Mass production and distribution of flawed products and services can also produce disastrous losses. The original motivation for system safety is still present but now applies to more and more areas.

As technology advances, everything tends to get bigger and faster. Higher energy levels are required, and more targets are available for unintentional energy flows. Also, as the rate of change in society increases, the gap between compliance safety (provided by codes, standards, and regulations generated by traditional trial‐and‐error experience) and optimum safety (provided by system safety) tends to grow wider.

Additionally, increased competition in the world market will tend to demand a greater speed of production and shorter upstream efforts. Survival in this competitive environment will depend upon an organization’s ability to “do it right the ...