STPA A New Hazard Analysis Technique

Hazard analysis can be described as investigating an accident before it occurs. The goal is to identify potential causes of accidents, that is, scenarios that can lead to losses, so they can be eliminated or controlled in design or operations before damage occurs. 

The most widely used existing hazard analysis techniques were developed fifty years ago and have serious limitations in their applicability to today s more complex, software-intensive, sociotechnical systems. This chapter describes a new approach to hazard analysis, based on the STAMP causality model, called STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis). 

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