An engineering manager’s perspective on system safety
Abstract
The science of system safety provides a structured guideline for managers to follow in order to ensure safe operations, but it does not ensure against deviations from such guidelines. This responsibility lies with management. Engineering managers must be able to dictate and track safety requirements throughout product development, deployment, and operation by treating system safety as an integrated engineering discipline. It is not feasible to expect the technical teams to integrate safety into designs unless safety requirements are considered a design metric just as cost and performance. Therefore, the traditional method of employing a separate safety department to address safety requirements is not sufficient. This responsibility must be given to all technical departments and levied as a design requirement.