Risk management deals with prevention, decision-making, action taking, crisis management and recovery, taking into account the consequences of unexpected events. The authors of this book are interested in ecological processes, human behavior, as well as the control and management of life-critical systems, which are potentially highly automated. Three main attributes define life-critical systems, i.e. safety, efficiency and comfort. They typically lead to complex and time-critical issues and can belong to domains such as transportation (trains, cars, aircraft), energy (nuclear, chemical engineering), health, telecommunications, manufacturing and services. The topics covered relate to risk management principles, methods and tools, and reliability assessment: human errors as well as system failures, socio-organizational issues of crisis occurrence and management, co-operative work including human−machine cooperation and CSCW (computer-supported cooperative work): task and function allocation, authority sharing, interactivity, situation awareness, networking and management evolution and lessons learned from Human-Centered Design.

Safety-critical systems are found in almost every sector of industry. An understanding of the basis for the functioning of these systems is therefore vital to all involved in their operation. This book provides an overview of the whole subject

Presents the theory and methodology for reliability assessments of safety-critical functions through examples from a wide range of applications Reliability of Safety-Critical Systems: Theory and Applications provides a comprehensive introduction to reliability assessments of safety-related systems based on electrical, electronic, and programmable electronic (E/E/PE) technology. With a focus on the design and development phases of safety-critical systems, the book presents theory and methods required to document compliance with IEC 61508 and the associated sector-specific standards. Combining theory and practical applications, Reliability of Safety-Critical Systems: Theory and Applications implements key safety-related strategies and methods to meet quantitative safety integrity requirements. In addition, the book details a variety of reliability analysis methods that are needed during all stages of a safety-critical system, beginning with specification and design and advancing to operations, maintenance, and modification control. The key categories of safety life-cycle phases are featured, including strategies for the allocation of reliability performance requirements; assessment methods in relation to design; and reliability quantification in relation to operation and maintenance. Issues and benefits that arise from complex modern technology developments are featured, as well as: Real-world examples from large industry facilities with major accident potential and products owned by the general public such as cars and tools Plentiful worked examples throughout that provide readers with a deeper understanding of the core concepts and aid in the analysis and solution of common issues when assessing all facets of safety-critical systems Approaches that work on a wide scope of applications and can be applied to the analysis of any safety-critical system A brief appendix of probability theory for reference With an emphasis on how safety-critical functions are introduced into systems and facilities to prevent or mitigate the impact of an accident, this book is an excellent guide for professionals, consultants, and operators of safety-critical systems who carry out practical, risk, and reliability assessments of safety-critical systems. Reliability of Safety-Critical Systems: Theory and Applications is also a useful textbook for courses in reliability assessment of safety-critical systems and reliability engineering at the graduate-level, as well as for consulting companies offering short courses in reliability assessment of safety-critical systems.

From the winner of the INCOSE Pioneer Award 2022 The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity, and spread across traditional boundaries. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually inadequate and risk exacerbating the original issues. Leaders of international bodies such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO and WHO — and of major business, public sector, charitable, and professional organizations — have all declared that systems thinking is an essential leadership skill for managing the complexity of the economic, social and environmental issues that confront decision makers. Systems thinking must be implemented more generally, and on a wider scale, to address these issues. An evaluation of different systems methodologies suggests that they concentrate on different aspects of complexity. To be in the best position to deal with complexity, decision makers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches and learn how to employ them in combination. This is called critical systems thinking. Making use of over 25 case studies, the book offers an account of the development of systems thinking and of major efforts to apply the approach in real-world interventions. Further, it encourages the widespread use of critical systems practice as a means of ensuring responsible leadership in a complex world. The INCOSE Pioneer Award is presented to someone who, by their achievements in the engineering of systems, has contributed uniquely to major products or outcomes enhancing society or meeting its needs. The criteria may apply to a single outstanding outcome or a lifetime of significant achievements in effecting successful systems. Comments on a previous version of the book: Russ Ackoff: ‘the book is the best overview of the field I have seen’ JP van Gigch: ‘Jackson does a masterful job. The book is lucid ...well written and eminently readable’ Professional Manager (Journal of the Chartered Management Institute): ‘Provides an excellent guide and introduction to systems thinking for students of management’

ASIS Book of The Year Winner as selected by ASIS International, the world's largest community of security practitioners Critical Infrastructure Risk Assessment wins 2021 ASIS Security Book of the Year Award - SecurityInfoWatch ... and Threat Reduction Handbook by Ernie Hayden, PSP (Rothstein Publishing) was selected as its 2021 ASIS Security Industry Book of the Year. As a manager or engineer have you ever been assigned a task to perform a risk assessment of one of your facilities or plant systems? What if you are an insurance inspector or corporate auditor? Do you know how to prepare yourself for the inspection, decided what to look for, and how to write your report? This is a handbook for junior and senior personnel alike on what constitutes critical infrastructure and risk and offers guides to the risk assessor on preparation, performance, and documentation of a risk assessment of a complex facility. This is a definite “must read” for consultants, plant managers, corporate risk managers, junior and senior engineers, and university students before they jump into their first technical assignment.

This monograph provides a new framework for modelling goals and functions of control systems. It demonstrates how to use means-end concepts and various aspects of action to describe the relations between the structure, dispositions, functions, and goals of technical systems and with human action. The author developed this approach as part of his research on Multilevel Flow Modelling (MFM). He based the framework on concepts of action and means-end analysis drawing on existing theories from several areas of study, including philosophical logic, semiotics, and phenomenological approaches to social science. Here, he applies it to three modeling situations related to the interaction of technical artefacts and humans. One involves the relation between designer and artefact, another the relation between technical artefact and its user, and the third the relation between a natural object and its user. All three are relevant for modelling complex automated processes interacting with human operators. The book also discusses challenges when applying the foundations for modelling of technical artefacts. Overall, it provides a cross disciplinary integration of several fields of knowledge. These disciplines include intelligent process control, human machine interaction, and process and automation design. As a result, researchers and graduate students in computer science, engineering, and philosophy of technology will find it a valuable resource.

The programme for the Second Safety-critical Systems Symposium was planned to examine the various aspects of technology currently employed in the design of safety-critical systems, as well as to emphasise the importance of safety and risk management in their design and operation. assessment There is an even balance of contributions from academia and industry. Thus, industry is given the opportunity to express its views of the safety-critical domain and at the same time offered a glimpse of the technologies which are currently under development and which, if successful, will be available in the medium-term future. In the field of technology, a subject whose importance is increasingly being recognised is human factors, and there are papers on this from the University of Hertfordshire and Rolls-Royce. Increasingly, PLCs are being employed in safety-critical applications, and this domain is represented by contributions from Nuclear Electric and August Computers. Then there are papers on maintainability, Ada, reverse engineering, social issues, formal methods, and medical systems, all in the context of safety. And, of course, it is not possible to keep the 'new' technologies out of the safety-critical domain: there are papers on neural networks from the University of Exeter and knowledge-based systems from ERA Technology.

In order to enable a better understanding of the key concepts of automation, this book develops the fundamental aspects of the field while also proposing numerous concrete exercises and their solutions. The theoretical approach that it presents fundamentally uses the state space and makes it possible to process general and complex systems in a simple way, involving several switches and sensors of different types. This approach requires the use of developed theoretical tools such as linear algebra, analysis and physics, generally taught in preparatory classes for specialist engineering courses.

CENELEC EN 50128 and IEC 62279 standards are applicable to the performance of software in the railway sector. The 2011 version of the 50128 standard firms up the techniques and methods to be implemented. This is a guide to its implementation, in order to understand the foundations of the standard and how it impacts on the activities to be undertaken, helping towards better a preparation for the independent evaluation phase, which is mandatory.