Principles of Engineering Safety Management

Abstract

Praxis Critical Systems has been involved over many years in helping companies across a wide range of industries introduce, and successfully run, effective Safety Management Systems. This paper is a distillation of our experience and provides a grounding in the principles of Engineering Safety Management.

An effective Safety Management System should combine the principles of the latest standards with practical experience of safety management and safety case approval. The paper provides a background to safety management by describing the legislative framework and relevant safety standards to which a Safety Management System must conform. The paper provides an understanding of the key concepts of safety management and defines the essential safety terminology, the concept of the safety lifecycle, and covers the responsibilities and roles undertaken by staff. A Safety Management System also depends on effective planning and documentation and the paper describes the essential safety documents.

A central part of the paper introduces the main techniques of Hazard Identification and Hazard Analysis which lead to Risk Assessment and the setting of Safety Requirements. A key part of managing safety is to provide assurance that both the processes and the engineering being applied will yield satisfactory results and an outline of safety assurance is provided. Finally, the concepts of the Safety Case and Safety Certification are covered.