Gains from Losses

The Importance of an Active and Robust Working Relationship Between System Safety and Engineering

Authors

  • John Livingston NASA (retired)

Keywords:

relationship, concept, requirements, trade study, project development

Abstract

The next few columns will address the importance of an active and robust working relationship between system safety and engineering. While the importance of this relationship is an often-stated axiom, post-accident assessments continue to cite causes reflecting shortcomings in system safety and engineering efforts that are rooted in either a lack of the basic exchange of knowledge or in the mutual utilization of that knowledge for the identification and control of project hazards and safety risk assessments.

Author Biography

John Livingston, NASA (retired)

Mr. John Livingston received his Physics degree in 1960 and began employment with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and served MSFC until and beyond his NASA retirement in 1997. Mr. Livingston is a Fellow of the International System Safety Society

While at MSFC, Mr. Livingston served on the Space Shuttle Safety Review Panel (12 years) and the Space Station Freedom Safety Panel Board (3 years). During his career with MSFC, he was Chief or Director for System Safety Engineering and received numerous safety-related awards including a NASA Silver Snoopy Award (given by a NASA Astronaut) and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, all related to excellence in System Safety related to safe space flight.

References

“Systems Engineering Handbook,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC, December, 2007, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080008301_2008008500.pdf, accessed on July 31, 2013.

NPR 8715.3C, NASA Safety Manual, January 24, 2000. Change 6 as of February 3, 2011 Source: NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS) Library, http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/, accessed on July 31, 2013.

Blair, J.C., R.S. Ryan and L.A. Schutzenhofer. “Engineering the System and Technical Integration,” NASA/CR—2011–216472, NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program Office, http://www.sti.nasa.gov, accessed on July 14, 2013.

“Air Force System Safety Handbook,” Air Force Safety Agency, Kirtland AFB NM, http://www.system-safety.org/Documents/AF_System-Safety-HNDBK.pdf, accessed on July 31, 2013.

“Space Systems Engineering Course: Chapter 12, Trade Studies,” http://spacese.spacegrant.org/index.php?page=trade-studies, accessed on August 6, 2013.

Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC, 1987, http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/table-of-contents.html, accessed on August 9, 2013.

Mars Climate Orbiter Mishap Investigation Board Phase I Report, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC, 1999, ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/MCO_report.pdf, accessed on August 9, 2013.

GENESIS Mishap Report, Volume I, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC, 2005, http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/149414main_Genesis_MIB.pdf, accessed on August 9, 2013.

Gains From Losses

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Published

2014-02-01

How to Cite

Livingston, J. (2014). Gains from Losses: The Importance of an Active and Robust Working Relationship Between System Safety and Engineering. Journal of System Safety, 50(1), 18–22. Retrieved from https://jsystemsafety.com/index.php/jss/article/view/238

Issue

Vol. 50 No. 1 (2014): Catching Safety Problems at the Planning Stage

Section

Columns and Perspectives

Categories

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.