Safety Philosophy Research Articles

Stochastic models, numerical algorithms and optimal computerised graphics and decision making processes for nuclear plant surveillance and anomaly detection

The identification, on-line and in near to real-time, of the resonant frequencies, modes and amplitudes of selected key reactor components and the visual monitoring of these phenomena by nuclear power plant operating staff will serve to further the safety and control philosophy of nuclear systems and lead to design optimisation. The rapid recognition of the onset of unusual or accidental conditions in reactor sub-channels by means of the optimal filtering of noise-like sources will lead to the development of new safety systems. In this paper a computer based nuclear power plant surveillance system utilising pattern recognition techniques is described and the results of preliminary tests and experiments carried out with it are discussed. Computer based algorithms utilising correlation and spectral analysis and linear and non-linear auto-regression techniques are assessed and their optimal utilisation described.

Aircraft Collision Risk in the North Atlantic Region

This paper discusses the modelling of lateral collision risk for aircraft crossing the North Atlantic. It describes the air traffic system, safety philosophy, a mathematical collision risk model and the practical results of the work.

Setting Standards: A Systematic Approach to Managing Public Health and Safety Risks

Standards are an effective means for managing hazardous technologies only if three conditions are satisfied: (a) setting general standards is preferable to case-by-case decision making; (b) some general safety philosophy, balancing risk and other factors, can be justified on normative grounds; (c) that philosophy is faithfully translated into operational terms. In practice, standards are rarely developed and enforced in an integrated systematic way. As a result, they often miss their mark. This guide presents a general framework for the design, development, and implementation of safety standards. That framework is derived from the logical character of the standard setters' task and from experience with actual standards. It first identifies the conditions under which standards are an appropriate management tool. Second, it presents four generic methods that may be used to develop safety policy. Third, it characterizes the design issues that arise in making that policy operational. At each step, it suggests particular strategies along with their inherent strengths and weaknesses. In particular, it shows the sensitivity of a standard's effectiveness to seemingly technical aspects of the way it is drafted.

Licensing of Safety-Related Equipment of Track-Bound Transportation Systems

One very important aspect of the operation of track-bound transportation systems (e.g. railways, urban rapid transit systems, automated guideway transit systems) is safety. The demand for safe operation is based on statutory requirements. The following paper goes briefly into the philosophy of safety and deals with the problems of verification of safety in connection with the realization of various technologies. It attempts to highlight the importance of verification and licensing conditions and thus show that “the creation of safety” is not enough, it must be verified. The importance of reliability as opposed to safety is also touched on.

Rational design methodology for fire exposed load bearing structures

The state-of-art of reliability studies in the area of fire-exposed structures or structural members is illustrated, taking examples from published papers concerning load-bearing building structures of steel, reinforced concrete, and wood. In parallel, trends are described in the present development of rational structural fire design methods, principally adapted to modern loading and safety philosophy for the non-fire state. Statistically derived results are presented for fire-exposed, insulated steel structures in office buildings, giving the breakdown of the total variance in maximum steel temperature and load-bearing capacity into component variances as a function of the insulation characteristics. The safety index and probability of failure are compared numerically for different fire design procedures. The data presented are examples of the information which is required as input in a qualified systems analysis of fire exposed load-bearing structures.

Structural fire protection. Report of group session 5.2, CIB W14 commission meeting, Copenhagen, May 1978

AbstractRecent development and trends of development in progress within the field of structural fire protection are described and evaluated with a focus on the contributions circulated within CIB W14. The presentation is structured on the one hand with regard to different methods of design (experimental determination of fire resistance, analytical determination of fire resistance, analytical design based directly or indirectly on real fire exposure characteristics), on the other with regard to different structural materials (steel, concrete and wooden structures). The presentation gives evidence of a development towards an increased application of analytical design methods based on modern structural safety philosophy. The urgency of increased research is stressed for improving the present building code systems in order to achieve fire safety levels which are consistent with strictly defined functional requirements.

Environmental health and safety philosophy.

Environmental health and safety philosophy.

Approche quantitative et qualitative d'un probleme de securite industrielle

Dogniaux, A., 1978. Quantitative and qualitative approach to an industrial safety problem. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 1: 311–330. The case of a Belgian foundry is studied in its work safety aspects. A statistical approach exploring various parameters provides evidence for a paradoxical situation: the unit of the factory that is expected to be the most dangerous, according to technical criteria, is in fact the safest. A psychosociological approach tries to bring some explanation by studying the attitude of the personnel towards the factory's norms and its philosophy of safety. The need for a global socio-technical analysis is illustrated as a condition for a diagnosis in order to assist future prevention.

IEC REPORT, publi. 513 Basic Aspects of the Safety Philosophy of Electrical Equipment Used in Medical Practice

IEC REPORT, publi. 513 Basic Aspects of the Safety Philosophy of Electrical Equipment Used in Medical Practice

Clinch-River Breeder-Reactor Plant System Reliability

The Reliability Program for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant (CRBRP, a sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor) is an integral part of the overall CRBRP design philosophy of safety in depth. The purpose of this program is to assure that the likelihood of exceeding Nuclear Regulatory Commission dose guidelines at the plant site boundaries is less than 10-6 per operating reactor year. This goal is conservatively interpreted for the purpose of a design objective as the requirement not to exceed loss of coolable core geometry to the same maximum likelihood of 10-6 per reactor year. This requirement is allocated among shutdown systems, post-shutdown heat removal systems, and other systems whose failure could result in loss of coolable geometry, a potential initiating cause of dose limit violations. Assuring that the goal will be attained in the plant is based on reliability analysis, the redundancy and diversity inherent in the design, and the verification test program.

Safety philosophy in the laboratory

Safety philosophy in the laboratory

Safety philosophy in the laboratory: Huff, James Edward, and John S. Wassom, Environmental Information Systems Office, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 37830 (U.S.A.)

Safety philosophy in the laboratory: Huff, James Edward, and John S. Wassom, Environmental Information Systems Office, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 37830 (U.S.A.)

GENERAL SAFETY IN HANDLING SOLVENTS.

AbstractThere are two major requirements for safety in plant operations: 1) convince everyone that it is smart to be safe, and 2) make it easier to be safe than unsafe. The most important method of instituting a workable and reliable safety program is that the general safety philosophy must be truly believed by management and promoted by them. It is only in this atmosphere that plant personnel will be able to progress to an outstanding safety record. The procedures for safer plant operations and general safety is a continuing program, and must be reviewed and revised, when required, in order to enhance safer operations.

Cooperative Safety Program of an Industrial Water System

This article discusses the cooperative safety program of the Duhernal Water System, a cooperative development furnishing raw well water to plants owned by E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company, Hercules Powder Company, and National Lead Company in Sayreville, N.J. The Duhernal system's five‐point “safety philosophy” is presented, along with program administration, inspections and precautions, and enforcement. Also, the emphasis on off‐the‐job safety is discussed.

The Operator's View

It is singularly appropriate that Mr. Walter Tye should be in the Chair today, not only by reason of his membership of the Air Registration Board, that Cerberus which watches so efficiently over so many aspects of safety in the air, but also for a more personal reason. He recently received the “ Aviation Week “ Award for distinguished service in achieving safer utilisation of aircraft, and I should like to take this semi-public opportunity of adding my congratulations to the many which he has received.In many of the offices of my airline one finds displayed a small plaque. On it appears, among other words, the legend “Safety is no Accident.” Although I am no great believer in the power of an oft-repeated formula to achieve miracles, I do believe that these words hold within them much of my flight safety philosophy.