System Safety Checklist

Abstract

Technical systems are increasingly designed, developed, and deployed all around us. Digitization of various industries, including automotive, industrial plants, smart cities, and space programs, is heavily underway, prep** the systems with sophisticated hardware and software. Complex algorithms are mostly modeled in software where the overall complexity grows tremendously. Throughout the previous 11 chapters, we dissected what is needed to correctly design and verify systems for safety. However, there are several more considerations apart from only technical items which need to be regarded in the safety context. In this chapter, therefore, we are going to compile a full safety checklist as a final reference and a great starting point for designing any safety-critical system.

Appendices

Self-assessment

Now take the time to self-assess your knowledge about all the required safety aspects by taking the quiz below. Each listed statement is either correct or incorrect. Please mark your answer and then check in the key at the end of the book.

• 1. If the system is removed from one original environment and placed into another environment, its safety properties remain the same.

• 2. A user interface element that requires too much user attention to be operated properly can be an actuating factor for a hazard.

• 3. Misuse of the system does not need to be regarded if we define specific training and prescribe procedures for system operation.

• 4. Safety prescriptions are first applied according to the safety standards, and only after that with regard to the regulations of the authorities in the area in which the system shall be deployed.

• 5. When proving the safety integrity of the system, we must prove that the security of the system cannot be compromised.

• 6. Together with the enforced system integrity, security requires confidentiality and availability of the system to be maintained.

• 7. Software debugging and bug reporting by users after the system release is an essential practice to make sure the system is safe.

• 8. Quality management and the application of process models, as in ISO 9001 and ASPICE, are required together with the inherent safety process, to make sure that the company is capable of develo** safe systems.

• 9. The safety manager in the company is fully responsible for the safety of the developed system.

• 10. Safety culture in the company needs to be nurtured and starts from the company management, who shall not prioritize the monetary performance of the company over the unacceptable impact that this might have on safety.

Self-assessment Key

• 1. False

• 2. True

• 3. False

• 4. False

• 5. True

• 6. True

• 7. False

• 8. True

• 9. False

• 10. True