A new approach to safety, based on systems thinking, that is more effective, less costly, and easier to use than current techniques. Engineering has experienced a technological revolution, but the basic engineering techniques applied in safety and reliability engineering, created in a simpler, analog world, have changed very little over the years. In this groundbreaking book, Nancy Leveson proposes a new approach to safety—more suited to today's complex, sociotechnical, software-intensive world—based on modern systems thinking and systems theory. Revisiting and updating ideas pioneered by 1950s aerospace engineers in their System Safety concept, and testing her new model extensively on real-world examples, Leveson has created a new approach to safety that is more effective, less expensive, and easier to use than current techniques. Arguing that traditional models of causality are inadequate, Leveson presents a new, extended model of causation (Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes, or STAMP), then shows how the new model can be used to create techniques for system safety engineering, including accident analysis, hazard analysis, system design, safety in operations, and management of safety-critical systems. She applies the new techniques to real-world events including the friendly-fire loss of a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter in the first Gulf War; the Vioxx recall; the U.S. Navy SUBSAFE program; and the bacterial contamination of a public water supply in a Canadian town. Leveson's approach is relevant even beyond safety engineering, offering techniques for “reengineering” any large sociotechnical system to improve safety and manage risk.

The systems thinking philosophy has become popular in human factors and ergonomics and safety science. These methods are being used to understand and resolve complex societal problems in areas such as transport safety, workplace safety, medication error, disaster management, child abuse, financial crises, terrorism, climate change and public health and wellbeing. This handbook presents practical step-by-step guidance for practitioners and researchers wishing to use these methods to tackle complex problems. Each method includes an example case study which demonstrates how the method can be applied and how the results can be interpreted and translated into practical recommendations. The book presents practical guidance on state-of-the-art systems thinking methods and offers case study applications describing systems thinking methods in novel areas. It explains how to translate the outputs of systems thinking methods in practice and introduces systems thinking with an overview of Human Factors and Ergonomics applications. This book will serve as a great reference for students and engineers in the field of systems engineering, complex systems and the design and development of systems, including ergonomics/human factors and systems engineers, designers, architects, industrial engineers, project management engineers, reliability engineers, risk engineers, software engineers and computer engineers.

This book provides an overview of, and practical guidance on, the range of human factors (HF) methods that can be used for the purposes of accident analysis and investigation in complex sociotechnical systems. Human Factors Methods and Accident Analysis begins with an overview of different accident causation models and an introduction to the concepts of accident analysis and investigation. It then presents a discussion focussing on the importance of, and difficulties associated with, collecting appropriate data for accident analysis purposes. Following this, a range of HF-based accident analysis methods are described, as well as step-by-step guidance on how to apply them. To demonstrate how the different methods are applied, and what the outputs are, the book presents a series of case study applications across a range of safety critical domains. It concludes with a chapter focussing on the data challenges faced when collecting, coding and analysing accident data, along with future directions in the area. Human Factors Methods and Accident Analysis is the first book to offer a practical guide for investigators, practitioners and researchers wishing to apply accident analysis methods. It is also unique in presenting a series of novel applications of accident analysis methods, including HF methods not previously used for these purposes (e.g. EAST, critical path analysis), as well as applications of methods in new domains.

Reliability-based design is relatively well established in structural design. Its use is less mature in geotechnical design, but there is a steady progression towards reliability-based design as seen in the inclusion of a new Annex D on "Reliability of Geotechnical Structures" in the third edition of ISO 2394. Reliability-based design can be viewed as a simplified form of risk-based design where different consequences of failure are implicitly covered by the adoption of different target reliability indices. Explicit risk management methodologies are required for large geotechnical systems where soil and loading conditions are too varied to be conveniently slotted into a few reliability classes (typically three) and an associated simple discrete tier of target reliability indices.

Featuring state-of-the-art contributions from leading experts in their respective fields, the Encyclopedia of Health Research in the Social Sciences explores an extensive range of topics, concepts, research approaches and theoretical orientations aimed at providing guidance for those undertaking health research.