Journal of System Safety
Not a member yet
238 research outputs found
Sort by
TBD
Get PDFThe September 2, 2021 edition of The New York Times “The Morning” included an interesting article concerning the collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Miami that resulted in the deaths of 98 people. After seeing multiple news accounts, I couldn’t help but wonder what in the world went wrong? Is there an important system safety lesson to be learned? If so, what might it be? The International System Safety Society (ISSS) is supporting a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-sponsored effort to explore ways to better implement “safety through design” for construction projects. The Times article provided a few enticing tidbits that might be worth mulling over regarding improving safety through design
Evidence for the Evidence
Get PDFA few years ago, a colleague contacted me about a paper they were working on concerning the “evidence” they felt was needed to show that safety-critical software was indeed safe. I asked if there was any evidence that the long list of items they were developing had any proven efficacy for safety. That is, is there any evidence that the items actually reduce the risk of a mishap
Implications of STAMP for Warhead Safety at AWE
Get PDFSTAMP (System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes) is a relatively new approach to safety assessment methodology and post-accident cause analysis; its prime developer is Nancy Leveson of MIT. STAMP is a holistic system-level approach to overall organizational structure and to technical operations and design. It takes a comprehensive look at all possible organizational and technical system influences that can ultimately affect the safety of technical processes and product designs in whatever scenarios or environments in which they operate or to which they are subjected. Of course, the process can be applied equally to both reliability of performance and security, in addition to safety
Ionizing Radiation Hazards: Dangerous Goods IV
Get PDFThe unwanted flow of matter is governed by chemical equations like Fick’s Law (diffusion of mass), the Arrhenius Law (rate of reaction), and most importantly the Nernst Equation (yielding the electrochemical potential of species). In addition to these chemical equations, the other unifying sutra (or “suture”) of eclectic dangerous goods problems, and the one that will be employed in this paper, is the construction of Gaussian surfaces through which energy may flow. This energy could be electromagnetic radiation, heat, ionizing radiation, non-ionizing radiation (light), acoustic energy, or even just fields. Once an equation is developed for the flow through a unit area of a Gaussian surface, a comparison can be made between an exposure and some Exposure Limit. And, there are many different types of limits depending on the conditions of the exposure. But, in general, if an exposure is below the Exposure Limit, then safety is implied. Above the limit, steps must be taken to provide shielding.
In this paper, attention will be focused on the hazards produced by flows of ionizing radiation energy emitted from a source. Ionizing radiation can penetrate deeply into matter and is capable of removing electrons from neutral atoms all along its path. Such widespread damage can disrupt DNA and, ultimately, result in carcinogenic tumors
In The News
Get PDFAircraft Grounded Because of COVID-19 Could Develop Engine Problems; FAA Orders Inspections
Investigator Find Employees of a Florida Nuclear Power Plant Falsified Inspection Reports
Robot with UV Light System Used to Clean Airplanes Between Flights to Combat COVID-1
Lessons Learned in a Complex Software Safety Program
Get PDFDevelopment of a system software safety program was required as part of an effort to secure government safety certification of a complex and intrinsically hazardous software-controlled system under development by several contributing companies. The author was part of a team of software safety support engineers reporting to one of the contributing companies. This paper summarizes some of the highlights of the lessons learned during development of this program
TBD
Get PDFThe International System Safety Society (ISSS) is still suffering from the impacts of the 2011 Budget Control Act that imposed “sequestration” measures within many members of the Society’s government contractor customer base. The Act resulted in immediate, and significant, decreases in membership and attendance at the annual Conference. Over a period of several years our member base was reduced by almost two thirds, going from approximately 1,200 paying members to about 500. Many system safety programs were “defunded,” forcing people to move to new fields where a Society membership no longer seemed necessary. In addition, funding cuts and an apparent distaste for “conferences” by government agencies slashed budgets supporting engineers’ Conference attendance
A Mathematical Method to Optimize Fault Tree Displays
Get PDFFault Tree Analysis (FTA) has undergone significant development since its inception in the early 1960s. It has been instrumental in modeling safety and reliability problems in which failure simply is not an option. Aerospace and nuclear industries, several universities, government agencies and software developers have played a large role in the development of FTA. As a result, practical and widely applicable mathematical tools have been established using reasonably common terminology and computer applications. This paper focuses on the fault tree display itself, and on improvements that add significant benefits to it
President's Message: Committing to an Inclusive Society
No full textWe are professionals dedicated to the safety of systems, products and services. Our hope is to make these elements safe for all who use them. In my mind, this vision is agnostic regarding color and culture. Our very work effort is offered because we hold life and health as a fundamental value underlying our society.
We have recently witnessed disturbing events in the U.S., in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic that we have all been coping with for months now. The murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor have made it unbearably apparent to me that racial injustice is very much a reality in the U.S. — and that it continues to plague the lives of people of color. Our membership includes people of color who are our colleagues and practitioners of safety, committed to our same vision. Our ranks are inclusive of race, color and gender. I am personally committed to ensuring their experience is professional, engaging, enriching, and free of both racism and genderism
Is AI in Healthcare Doomed, or Destined for Greatness?
Get PDFFully automatic and autonomous medical systems are already released and being used. Nurses and doctors have started adopting the technology to reduce manual work, and to provide more accurate service and impactful interventions to patients. Increased access, better outcomes, reduced costs and more personal and customized healthcare are the promise of AI. But unlike other commercial systems where performance is paramount, in healthcare, patient safety is the primary concern. There is a tremendous drive to capitalize on AI capabilities as soon as possible and as much as possible. However, there is a risk to AI's success. People expect infallibility from AI – far more than they expect from human physicians. As a result, only a few catastrophic events involving AI could spell doom for AI in healthcare