Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

SECURITY AND SAFETY SYNERGY

NICKLAS DAHLSTRÖM AND SIDNEY DEKKER

Lund University School of Aviation, Ljungbyhed, Sweden

1 INTRODUCTION

Security and safety are concepts that share important features; they both involve the risk of occurrence of events with consequences that may range from trivial to disastrous. Yet as concepts they are also different, with security relating to intentional acts by individuals and safety relating to events caused by unintended consequences of a combination of a host of factors. In safety-critical industries, such as aviation and maritime transport, chemical and nuclear industry, and health care, safety is seen as the positive outcome of management of problems and trade-offs that are rooted in systems' complexity, goal interaction, and resource limitations. This perspective has led safety research to shift focus and go beyond individual acts (such as “human error”) and move to systematic aspects of human, technological, and organizational performance [1]. It involves dealing with problems connected to regulations and standardized procedures, technology and automation, and efforts to understand the impact of communication, group dynamics, leadership, and culture on safety. The advancement of security issues in a complex modern society should be able to benefit from the knowledge gained through safety industry operations in the field of Human Factors. This knowledge has the potential to make security more safe (for those who design and implement security ...