Change from Machines to Production Systems—An Approach and Qualitative Methods for the Assessment of System Safety and System Availability Risks

Abstract

The change from single machines to automated machine systems transforms the design and engineering problems from machine design and manufacturing issues into system design, systems engineering and system integration ones. The developed approach integrates key elements from systems engineering, machinery safety and industrial safety engineering practices. Evaluation of the usefulness of the overall approach and risk analysis methods has been done following the qualitative case-study research methods. The results of the study show that the three-level approach to risk assessment is applicable for automated machine systems and the selected methods are applicable for system-level hazard identification and risk analysis. The approach and the methods have been adopted in case companies. The results can be utilized among machine manufacturers, system suppliers, end users of the machinery systems, and safety experts.