Functions and Goals of Safety Science

The ultimate goal of the science of safety is to hold to an absolute minimum any damaging effects from handling modern technology, or, at least, to keep them within tolerable limits. In the above context, damaging effects may mean accidents caused by technology as well as other destruction or loss, e.g., through environmental pollution caused by a technical installation. 

As far as life, health, property, or ideal values e.g., the beauty of nature) are endangered by undesirable side effects of technology, avoiding such damage as far as possible is a task dictated by ethical considerations. In many cases, however, it will be realistic economical considerations which prompt us to aspire to the same goal. It is certainly not within the province of the science of safety to engage in moralizing about the relative merits of duty and inclination however, it is necessary to point out that in many cases personal interest and ethical considerations may often coincide. 

The peculiar function of the science of safety in achieving this aim is the acquisition and summarization of knowledge regarding the conditions and design of safety in handling technical systems, as well as regarding the various possibilities of protection from their inherent dangers and to 

Safety science should be looked upon as an interfacultative and interdisciplinary branch of science which, among other things, also encompasses accident research in its conventional sense. The foremost aim of the latter has been and still is to avoid harmful side effects of technology by helping to recognize the causes and possible consequences of accidents. In this way accident research contributes towards improvement of the technical object itself as well as to the manner of its utilization. 

However, despite the achievements and successes, which are significant in many fields, a certain feeling of uneasiness is now pervading the public, which demands that additional and new avenues be explored. This, in turn, has led to an effort to make available any new scientific findings, knowledge, and methods of research devoted to the prevention of accidents 

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