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2.2.3 Towards the Integration of Safety Assessment and Systems Engineering Methods for Rail Transport Systems Development
Author(s) -
Duurland Erwin,
Ransijn Gert Jan,
Verhoeven Maarten,
Duyne Reinier
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2004.tb00495.x
Subject(s) - brainstorming , risk analysis (engineering) , hazard analysis , rigour , reuse , hazard , computer science , system safety , process (computing) , systems engineering , engineering , reliability engineering , medicine , chemistry , geometry , mathematics , organic chemistry , artificial intelligence , operating system , waste management
This paper describes an improved, scenario‐based method for identifying hazards of complex safety‐critical systems and its application to the safety management of a high‐speed rail transportation system. The identifications of hazards is the foundation of safety assessment. If a hazard – any situation that can contribute to an accident ‐ is not identified, one can not take action to eliminate it or to reduce the risks related to it. Organizations creating or introducing changes to safety‐critical systems should make systematic and vigorous attempts to identify any possible hazard. Traditional approaches for systematic identification of hazards include emperical methods like the use of checklists and structured walktroughs as well as creative methods like brainstorming and HAZOPS studies. While emperical methods rely heavily upon knowledge of the past and tend to be less effective for novel systems, creative methods tend to lack systematic rigour. Both categories fail at addressing the hazards associated with functional failure of complex integrated systems. The scenario‐based method introduced in this paper combines the systematic, analytical derivation of hazards from behavior models that specify the operational scenarios for the system of interest with creative team‐based sessions that are structured around the same behavior models of the operational scenarios. An major benefit of this approach is that through the behavior models of the operational scenarios the safety assessment process is directly linked to systems engineering work products. This provides a sound basis for integrated design iteration cycles and reuse of information and thus for improving the quality, lead times and cost of the overall development process.