Safety Management Systems

Please click and select from the following subjects:

1. System Safety Techniques

2. Reliability Engineering

3. References
 Review of Basic Principles and Terminology
The system safety concept is that accidents are the result of a number of
interacting causes within a system. System safety techniques, when properly
applied, can identify the hidden system failure modes and can recommend
procedures or system modification for their rectification. System safety
techniques can be qualitative such as Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA) or
quantitative such as Fault Tree Analysis. This section is primarily
concerned with questions dealing with the design of systems and products to
eliminate or control the hazards.4

System Safety Definition

The system safety approach begins by defining a system and focusing on how
accidents can occur within that system as a result of equipment failure,
external events such as power failure, human error, environmental conditions,
or a combination of these. The preventive measures to mitigate the hazards
include design of control apparatus equipment or development of procedural
safeguards.3,4,6,8

System Safety Techniques

System safety techniques include but are not limited to the Preliminary Hazard
Analysis (PHA), What If analysis , Hazard and Operability Analysis
(HAZOP), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Event Tree Analysis (ETA), Failure
Modes Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), and Job Safety Analysis
(JSA).
Understanding system safety techniques requires an in-depth study of this
subject. Although a very brief description of some of the system safety
techniques is presented in the following, a detailed description of these
techniques is outside the scope of this workbook. For more detailed
description of each technique, the reader should consult the references.

Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)

A PHA is a general, qualitative study that yields a rough assessment of the
potential hazards and means of their rectification within a system. The results
of a PHA study can be summarized in the form of a table or a logic diagram.
In either format, potential hazards along with their cause and major effects are
identified. In addition, for each hazard identified, preliminary means of
control are also prescribed.

“What If” Analysis3, 4

The main purpose of the “What If” method is to identify the hazards associated
with a process by asking questions that start with “What If... “ The results are
presented in the form of a table, which includes the questions, their
consequences, and recommendations.

Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)1,

2, 3, 4

FMECA, also known as failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA), is a

systematic method by which equipment and system failures and the resulting
effects of these failures are determined. FMECA is an inductive analysis; that
is, possible events are studied, but not the reasons for their occurrences.
Generally, this analysis is first performed on a qualitative basis; quantitative
data can later be applied to establish a criticality ranking that is often expressed
as probabilities of system failures.

Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP)3, 4, 7

HAZOP is extensively used in Process Safety Management (PSM). This
analysis applies certain guide words to process parameters to identify
deviations from the design intent along with their causes and consequences.
For example, application of the guide word “NO” to process parameter FLOW
creates the deviation “NO FLOW.” The causes and consequences of NO
FLOW are then studied. The points within the process where deviations are
studied are called NODES.

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) 3, 4, 5

This method of hazard evaluation visually demonstrates the interrelationship
between equipment failure, human error, external and environmental factors
that can result in an accident. FTA is a “backward” analysis: a system hazard,
or TOP event is the starting point, and the study traces backwards to find the
possible causes of the hazard. A cut set is any group of contributing elements
which, if all occur, will cause the TOP event to occur. A minimum cut set is
a minimum group of contributing elements which, if all occur, will cause the
TOP event to occur.
The symbols used in FTA are displayed in Figure 1. The fault tree will begin
with the TOP event and will address any possible equipment failure, human
error, or environmental factors that could result in the TOP event.
1. AND gates are used when the existence of all conditions or events
indicated must occur for the TOP event to occur.
2. OR gates indicate that any one of the conditions or events indicated
leads to the TOP event.
3. Undeveloped events are occurrences that are not further addressed,
either because of lack of necessary information or for other reasons
such as the particular event goes beyond the scope of the study.
4. Basic faults are the primary cause of the TOP event. Basic faults
represent a malfunction of equipment that occurs in the environment
in which the equipment was intended to operate. Each branch of the
fault tree should eventually end up in either a basic fault or perhaps
an undeveloped event.
The triangles are used for transfer of the fault tree to another location or
another page.
 Event
Event
Inhibit Conditional
Gate Event Tree

Basic
Fault

Transfer
Out

Undeveloped
Event

Transfer
In

AND
Gate

External
Event
OR
Gate

. Figure 1. Fault Tree Analysis Symbols

Analysis (ETA)3, 4, 7
ETA is a forward analysis beginning with an initiating event and proceeding
forward to find possible consequences resulting from that event. The success
or failure of various safety functions as the accident progresses determines the
course of events.

Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction (THERP)

This method deals with continuous personnel operations and probability of
procedural errors. THERP breaks down the procedure for an operation into
individual tasks. Each task is then assigned a probability of success (or
failure). The probabilities are then multiplied to obtain the probability of
success or failure of the operation (mutually exclusive events).1, 2

Job Safety Analysis

This method breaks down a task into steps and then analyzes each step.
Reliability Engineering2
 Reliability theory

 Reliability is the probability that a system, component,

or device will perform without failure for a specified
period of time under specified operating conditions.
Reliability is a study of the causes, distribution, and
prediction of failure.

 Hazard rate is the number of failures in a unit of time per

the number of items exposed for the same time. The
hazard rate is given in terms like 1 per cent per 1,000
hours or 10-5 per hour.

 Failure curve

Infant
Wear out
Mortality
Useful Life
Failure

Constant

Failure rate

Time
Rt   e  t

where:

R(t)  reliability
t  time in which reliability is measured
number of failures

number of time units during which all items were exposed to failure

Example
If a device has a failure rate of 2  10-6 failures/hour, what is its
reliability in an operating period of 500 hours?
Solution
R 500   exp 2  10 6  500
 e  0.001  0.999
or the probabilit y of failure  0.001

Probability of Failure
The probability of failure for a component or device in a given time is
equal to 1 minus its reliability in that period of time. Mathematically, we
can write:
Pf = 1 – R( t)

where:
Pf is the probability of failure and R(t) is the reliability.

Example
What is the probability of failure in 1000 hours of operation for a device
7
that has a failure rate of 2  10 failures per hour?

Solution
 2  10 7 failures per hour
t  1000 hours

First, we calculate the reliability of this device in 1000 hours.

Rt   e  t

R1000   e 210 1000

7

R1000   0.9998
 Now, we can calculate the probability of failure by subtracting
reliability from 1.

Pf  1  Rt 
Pf  1  0.9998
Pf  0.0002
System reliability
Most mechanical and electronic systems are comprised of a collection of
components. The overall reliability of the system depends on how the
individual components with their individual failure rates are arranged.

RECOGNITION

EVALUATION

CONTROL
 Series reliability
If the components are so arranged that the failure of any component
causes the system failure, it is said to be arranged in series.

A B N
R system = RA  RB  ....  RN

If there are many components exhibiting series reliability the system

reliability becomes low rather quickly.

Example
A device has 20 components in series. If the reliability of each
component is 0.990, what is the reliability of this device?

Solution

20 components with R = 0.99

R system = 0.9920 = 0.818

Even though each component has a relatively high reliability, the

reliability of the system decreases considerably because of the series
arrangement.
Parallel reliability
It is necessary for all components of the system to fail in order for the
system to fail.
A

Rsystem = 1 - (1 - RA) (1 - RB) ... (1 - Rn) B

Example
A system has 3 components in parallel. Each component has a reliability
of 0.9500. What is the reliability of this system?

Solution

Rsystem = 1  (1  0.95)(1  0.95) (1  0.95)

Rsystem = 1  0.0001
Rsystem = 0.9999

It is important to note that although each component has a reliability

of 0.9500, the reliability of the system increases considerably because
of the parallel arrangement of the components.
Some of the more common causes of unreliability
1. Design mistakes
2. Manufacturing defects
3. Maintenance
4. Exceeding design limits
5. Environmental factors

Frequency of failures (hazard rate)

The number of failures for every hour of operation per total number of
hours of operation is called the frequency of failures or the hazard rate.
The reciprocal of the hazard rate is called Mean Time Between Failures.2
(MTBF)
References
Roland, H. E., B. Moriarty; “System Safety Engineering and Management”; 2nd edition;
John Wiley & Sons; New York, NY.

Kavianian, Hamid R., C. A. Wentz; “Occupational and Environmental Safety

Engineering and Management”; Van Nostrand Reinhold; New York, NY.

American Institute of Chemical Engineers; “Guidelines for Hazard Evaluation

Procedures”; Center for Chemical Process Safety; AICHE; New York, NY.

Lack, Richard W., ed. “Safety and Health Management”. Boca Raton, FL: Lewis
Publishers

Koren, Herman. “Handbook of Environmental Health and Safety”, Volume 1, 2nd ed.
Boca Raton, FL: Lewis Publishers.

Krause, Thomas R. “The Behavior-Based Safety Process”, 2nd ed. New York: Van
Nostrand and Reinhold.

Molak, Vlasta, ed. “Fundamentals of Risk Analysis and Risk Management”. Boca Raton,
FL: Lewis Publishers.

Petersen, Dan. “Safety Management—A Human Approach”, 3rd ed. Des Plaines, IL:
American Society of Safety Engineers.

Petersen, Dan. “Techniques of Safety Management”, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill..