Engineering systems safety audits

Reliability, Maintainability, and Quality Control. Inclusion of these organizations in the system safety process, from concept through disposal, will aid in the identification of safety-critical components for reliability analysis. A failure mode(s) and effect(s) analysis (FMEA), as well as other common reliability models, can be used to identify critical and noncritical failure points. The quality assurance element can be extremely usefid in the overall system safety process. Quality engineers should participate in the inspection of safety-critical components, serve on certification boards, audit any corrective-action requirements, and identify any safety impacts associated with implementation of such requirements. 

A study of the development of the British railway network from the 1830s shows how railway engineers and their regulators grasped the concept of Safety Audit as the key to a safe transport system. In the early days of this form of mass transportation, accidents were common as the pioneers came to grips with the demands of moving people and goods, at previously unknown speeds, around the country. 

While the Road Safety Auditor concentrates on road safety issues, the client or design project engineer will have to weigh up the various consequences of implementing the recommendations within the Road Safety Audit Report. Generally, the project engineer will prepare an Exception Report or at least a feedback form explaining why recommendations have been rejected. However, occasionally there will be situations where decisions are very difficult and in these cases it may be necessary to introduce a system of arbitration. 

This subject, until recently, has not been given sufficient attention by safety professionals. Design and engineering provisions do not appear typically in outlines of safety management systems. Nor would the subject ordinarily be included in safety audits. Yet design and engineering decisions are primary in determining risk levels, and those decisions are most often made without input from safety professionals. 

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) http //www.ite.org develops intelligent transportation system (ITS) standards http //www.ite.org/standards/index.asp (accessed September 14,2010) in a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation. ITE s site also has technical information http //www.ite.org/technical/default.asp (accessed September 14, 2010) and links on topics, such as traffic calming, road safety audits, safety and signal timing. 

Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) (1993c). Guidelines for Auditing Process Safety Management Systems. New York American Institute of Chemical Engineers. 

Safety instrumented system audits provide beneficial information to plant management, instrument maintenance engineers and instrument design engineers. This enables management to be proactive and aware of the degree of implementation and effectiveness of their safety instrumented systems. Many types of audits, which can be carried out exist. The actual type, scope, and frequency of the audit of any specific activity should reflect the potential impact of the activity on the safety integrity. 

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