Notes on Society History

The Origin and Expansion of the System Safety Concept

Abstract

In previous History Notes, I have addressed the genesis of our Society. Here, I will address the development of the system safety concept (SSC). The impetus for this was a request from Charlie Hoes (author of the Journal of System Safety column “TBD”) to help him better understand just where this concept came from, as well as its authors.

Of course, the SSC came into existence long before our Society, which was created primarily to promote the SSC. There are numerous opinions on this subject and many have been addressed, directly or indirectly in the pages of this Journal during the past 50 years. I suspect that a detailed examination would find they do not all agree. Realizing that this ambiguity may create some consternation among the really curious — and as the currently appointed Society Historian — I felt it best to attempt to define the milieu in which the system safety concept has advanced.