Since 1975, a short course entitled "System Safety and Reliability Analysis" has been presented to over 200 NRC personnel and contractors. The course has been taught jointly by David F. Haasl, Institute of System Sciences, Professor Norman H. Roberts, University of Washington, and 'members of the Probabilistic Analysis Staff, NRC, as part of a risk assessment training program sponsored by the Probabilistic Analysis Staff. This handbook has been developed not only to serve as text for the System Safety and Reliability Course, but also to make available to others a set of otherwise undocumented material on fault tree construction and evaluation. The publication of this handbook is in accordance with the recommendations of the Risk Assessment Review Group Report (NUREG/CR-0400) in which it was stated that the fault/event tree methodology both can and should be used more widely by the NRC. It is hoped that this document will help to codify and systematize the fault tree approach to systems analysis.

One of the most valuable root-cause analysis tools in the system safety toolbox is fault tree analysis (FTA). A fault tree (FT) is a graphical diagram that uses logic gates to model the various combinations of failures, faults, errors and normal events involved in causing a specified undesired event to occur. The graphical model can be translated into a mathematical model in order to compute failure probabilities and system importance measures. A FT can model all aspects of a system, including hardware, software, human actions and the environment. FTs are employed to evaluate large complex and dynamic systems, in order to understand and prevent potential safety and reliability problems. Using the rigorous and structured methodology of FT construction allows the systems analyst to model the unique combinations of fault events that can cause an UE to occur. This book provides an overview of the FTA process; it describes the symbols, terms, construction methodology and mathematics of FTA.

A one-stop reference guide to design for safety principles and applications Design for Safety (DfSa) provides design engineers and engineering managers with a range of tools and techniques for incorporating safety into the design process for complex systems. It explains how to design for maximum safe conditions and minimum risk of accidents. The book covers safety design practices, which will result in improved safety, fewer accidents, and substantial savings in life cycle costs for producers and users. Readers who apply DfSa principles can expect to have a dramatic improvement in the ability to compete in global markets. They will also find a wealth of design practices not covered in typical engineering books—allowing them to think outside the box when developing safety requirements. Design Safety is already a high demand field due to its importance to system design and will be even more vital for engineers in multiple design disciplines as more systems become increasingly complex and liabilities increase. Therefore, risk mitigation methods to design systems with safety features are becoming more important. Designing systems for safety has been a high priority for many safety-critical systems—especially in the aerospace and military industries. However, with the expansion of technological innovations into other market places, industries that had not previously considered safety design requirements are now using the technology in applications. Design for Safety: Covers trending topics and the latest technologies Provides ten paradigms for managing and designing systems for safety and uses them as guiding themes throughout the book Logically defines the parameters and concepts, sets the safety program and requirements, covers basic methodologies, investigates lessons from history, and addresses specialty topics within the topic of Design for Safety (DfSa) Supplements other books in the series on Quality and Reliability Engineering Design for Safety is an ideal book for new and experienced engineers and managers who are involved with design, testing, and maintenance of safety critical applications. It is also helpful for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in engineering. Design for Safety is the second in a series of “Design for” books. Design for Reliability was the first in the series with more planned for the future.

Guides the reader through a risk assessment and shows them the proper tools to be used at the various steps in the process This brand new edition of one of the most authoritative books on risk assessment adds ten new chapters to its pages to keep readers up to date with the changes in the types of risk that individuals, businesses, and governments are being exposed to today. It leads readers through a risk assessment and shows them the proper tools to be used at various steps in the process. The book also provides readers with a toolbox of techniques that can be used to aid them in analyzing conceptual designs, completed designs, procedures, and operational risk. Risk Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and Their Applications, Second Edition includes expanded case studies and real life examples; coverage on risk assessment software like SAPPHIRE and RAVEN; and end-of-chapter questions for students. Chapters progress from the concept of risk, through the simple risk assessment techniques, and into the more complex techniques. In addition to discussing the techniques, this book presents them in a form that the readers can readily adapt to their particular situation. Each chapter, where applicable, presents the technique discussed in that chapter and demonstrates how it is used. Expands on case studies and real world examples, so that the reader can see complete examples that demonstrate how each of the techniques can be used in analyzing a range of scenarios Includes 10 new chapters, including Bayesian and Monte Carlo Analyses; Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Analysis; Threat Assessment Techniques; Cyber Risk Assessment; High Risk Technologies; Enterprise Risk Management Techniques Adds end-of-chapter questions for students, and provides a solutions manual for academic adopters Acts as a practical toolkit that can accompany the practitioner as they perform a risk assessment and allows the reader to identify the right assessment for their situation Presents risk assessment techniques in a form that the readers can readily adapt to their particular situation Risk Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and Their Applications, Second Edition is an important book for professionals that make risk-based decisions for their companies in various industries, including the insurance industry, loss control, forensics, all domains of safety, engineering and technical fields, management science, and decision analysis. It is also an excellent standalone textbook for a risk assessment or a risk management course.

Dependability and cost effectiveness are primarily seen as instruments for conducting international trade in the free market environment. These factors cannot be considered in isolation of each other. This handbook considers all aspects of performability engineering. The book provides a holistic view of the entire life cycle of activities of the product, along with the associated cost of environmental preservation at each stage, while maximizing the performance.

Markov Chains are widely used as stochastic models to study a broad spectrum of system performance and dependability characteristics. This monograph is devoted to compositional specification and analysis of Markov chains. Based on principles known from process algebra, the author systematically develops an algebra of interactive Markov chains. By presenting a number of distinguishing results, of both theoretical and practical nature, the author substantiates the claim that interactive Markov chains are more than just another formalism: Among other, an algebraic theory of interactive Markov chains is developed, devise algorithms to mechanize compositional aggregation are presented, and state spaces of several million states resulting from the study of an ordinary telefone system are analyzed.