The Future of System Safety

System safety evolved as a discipline because of a compelling need for first-time safety in systems where accidents could be catastrophic. During the three decades since the origins of system safety, the number of systems with potential for catastrophic failure has dramatically increased. In addition to expanded requirements in the nuclear and aerospace industries, catastrophic losses in terms of injury, property damage, and environmental impact can result from single mishaps in surface transportation, chemical operations, facilities, and conventional weapon systems. Mass production and distribution of flawed products and services can also produce disastrous losses. The original motivation for system safety is still present but now applies to more and more areas. 

Additionally, increased competition in the world market will tend to demand greater speed of production and shorter upstream efforts. Survival in this competitive environment will depend upon an organization s ability to do it right the first time, every time.  

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Baciu, Alina, Kathleen Stratton, and Sheila R Burke, eds. The Future of Drug Safety Promoting and Protecting the Health of the Public. Washington, D.C. National Academies Press, 2007. The FDA asked the Institute of Medicine to evaluate the drug safety system. This report comes from the panel... 

Stage Gate SG2 forms the most important strategic milestone in the integrated life cycle becanse it determines the finther comse of the project. The developed design specification, the re-worked plans and the updated effort and cost estimates allow management to re-evaluate the project and to decide upon its future. If the decision is to continue the project, the activities of System Safety Assessment (SSA) and of system development are triggered. Those activities are monitored by project control. 

The accident at Three Mile Island unfortunately tlircatened the future of nuclear power in tlie United States and called into question the safety systems... 

In addition to the evaluation of chemical process hazards, and the proper applications of the evaluation to process design and operation, the management systems are important to assure operation of the facilities as intended. Brief introductions into hazard identification and quantification, and into management controls from the perspective of process safety are presented in Chapter 4. Future trends are also briefly reviewed here. 

Develop and implement a program for reporting reactive incidents that includes the sharing of relevant safety knowledge and lessons learned with your membership, the public, and government to improve safety system performance and prevent future incidents. 

Can vehicular hydrogen storage systems be developed that offer cost and safety equivalent to that of fuels in use today The future of transportation uses depends on the answer. 

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