Posted in Rail Safety, Systems of Systems, tagged AS 4292, catenary wire failure, Dynamic brake, integration, interface hazards, Systems of systems on 07/03/2012 | Leave a Comment »
In the MIL-STD-882 lexicon of hazard analyses there’s one called a System Hazard Analysis which according to the standard is intended to identify interaction and interface related hazards.
This sounds wonderful in theory and I’ve certainly seen a number toy examples touted in various text books on what it look like. But, to be honest, I’ve never really been convinced by the examples given. So the subject of this post is to give a real world example.
Posted in Rail Safety, The human machine interface, tagged common cause, Complexity, Dead man switch, human factors, human machine interface, Waterfall accident on 05/05/2010 | 4 Comments »
5.3.16.3 (4) The pedal design and/or operation shall be such that it cannot be over-ridden or tampered with in order to negate the safety feature. State Rail Authority (SRA) specification (5.3.16.3) On the 31st of January 2003 at approx. 7:14 am a four car Tangara passenger train on run C311 from Sydney Central to Port Kembla (G7) oversped on a downhill [...]
Posted in Rail Safety, tagged 2010, conference, functional allocation, human error, procedural safety, Rail safety, safe working, safety culture, safety functions on 13/03/2010 | Leave a Comment »
I attended the Australian Rail Safety Conference 2010 in Melbourne this week. The conference’s theme was safety leadership and as a result we had a broad spread of corporate executives present providing their views on the leadership aspect of safety.
Posted in Complexity, Rail Safety, tagged Complexity, Control theory, requirements, Safety, Train doors, Waterfall report on 24/06/2009 | Leave a Comment »
The effect of poorly considered originating requirements (the recommendations of the Waterfall accident commisioner) upon system safety requirements for a passenger emergency door release function.
I tend towards the integrative rather than reductionist view of engineering and science. I'm interested in emergence, networks, relationships and interfaces as they apply to safety.
