The Role of System Safetyin Program (Safety) Risk Management(Hero, Bum or Fall-Guy)

摘要

There are several factors that influence the successful management of any safety risk issue. Thecomplexity of the problem, the intricacy of the solution and the skill of the decision maker are among themajor factors. The system safety practitioner is most directly concerned with providing management (thedecision makers) the best and most complete safety risk analyses to support the safety risk managementprocess. Unfortunately, having the “best” safety risk assessment does not guarantee that a program willsuccessful meet its safety goals or requirements. Practitioners who may have had trouble gettingmanagement attention before an event may have more attention then they would like after the lossoccurrence. Having a sound system safety program with viable products is still the best approach formeeting program safety requirements and will contribute to reducing undeserved back-lash after an event.Beyond having the best product, it is critical that the practitioner also understand all of the other factors inthe safety risk management process and their impact on the manager’s decision.While the safety risk management effort can fail for even simple problems, the challenge generally variesdirectly with the complexity of the problem. Fortunately even complex problems can have simplesolutions, which very much improve the prospects of the safety risk management process. However, thesolutions to most complex problems are not likely to be straight forward. Many times hazards cannot beeliminated; and most of the time, the necessary hazard controls are a combination hardware features,software functions and even may require human intervention. Most challenging is the assessment ofdynamic systems where many different conditions are at work, all of which have a direct bearing on theeffectiveness of the hazard controls. The quality of the system safety evaluation of such systems can alsobe compromised by limitations in resources or schedule constrains.Given a proper understanding of the problem and the correct safety risk information, the decision makershould be in a position to render a decision that reflects the programs safety requirements. However thereare other things besides knowledge and skill that can influence the resolution of a potential safety problem.The company culture and/or program attitude can cloud the risk evaluation and management processleading to an unsatisfactory result.