Safety Factors and Innovation in Ropes and Cables

Abstract

Society depends on engineers to design infrastructure, tools, and machines to operate in a safe and reliable manner, but at a cost which is economically feasible. To achieve this objective, the concept of Safety Factor, a.k.a. Margin of Safety has been applied which results in an over designed product which is then presented as being safe. More recently, the terms 'design factor', or 'reserve factor' have been used instead, but this has been mainly as a defense from potential legal issues that may arise from using the word safety and what it implies in this context. Building systems stronger than necessary is supposed to protect the user in cases of unexpected loads, misuse, and degradation and loss of properties over the design life. It should follow that the better the load, use, and degradation are understood, the lower the Design Factor can be.