Safety - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 164.107.252.33 (talk) at 06:27, 9 March 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 06:27, 9 March 2006 by 164.107.252.33 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Safety first, ahhh safety, some just saftied and it wasn't me, ahhh safety, who just saftied??/??? safety safety safety safeetttttyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Types of potential problem situations

A person or organization may want safety from numerous types of actual or potentially detrimental situations such as:

personal physical injury
financial/economic damage
injury to one's political influence
emotional injury
psychological damage
damage to one's personal reputation
damage to a company's image in the community
reduction in market share from business competition
reduction in business efficiency
governmental regulation
regulation by industry organizations
governmental penalties
tax increases
increased expenses
personal property damage
damage to real estate
air, water or land pollution
time travel (Though usually, your safety will not be guaranteed in this situation.)

Safety-critical systems

Safety-critical systems, sometimes referred to as mission-critical systems or life-critical systems, are those systems whose failure could result in loss of life, significant property damage, or damage to the environment. There are many well-known examples in different areas, such as medical devices, aircraft flight control, weapons, and nuclear systems. Many modern information systems (systems involving software) are becoming safety-critical in a general sense because financial loss and even loss of life can result from their failure.

System Safety and Reliability Engineering

System Safety and Reliability Engineering is an engineering discipline. Continuous changes in technology, environmental regulation, public safety concerns make the analysis of complex safety-critical systems more and more demanding.

Risk Management

Risk management is the art and science of identifying risks, determining how significant they are, deciding whether they are worth taking, and recommending measures to reduce or eliminate particular risks.

Safety measures

Safety measures are activities and precautions taken to improve safety or reduce risk. Common safety measures include:

Visual examination for dangerous situations such as emergency exits blocked because they are being used as storage areas.
Visual examination for flaws such as cracks, peeling, loose connections.
Chemical analysis
X-ray analysis to see inside a sealed object such as a weld, a cement wall or an airplane outer skin.
Destructive testing of samples
Stress testing subjects a person or product to stresses in excess of those the person or product is designed to handle, to determining the "breaking point".
Safety margins. For instance, a product that should never be required to handle more than 200 pounds might be designed to withstand at least 300 pounds.
Implementation of standard protocols and procedures so that activities are conducted in a known way.
Training of employees, vendors, product users
Instruction manuals explaining how to use a product or perform an activity
Instructional videos demonstrating proper use of products
Examination of activities by specialists to minimize physical stress or increase productivity
Government regulation so suppliers know what standards their product is expected to meet.
Industry regulation so suppliers know what level of quality is expected. Industry regulation is often imposed to avoid potential government regulation.
Self-imposed regulation of various types.
Statements of Ethics by industry organizations or an individual company so its employees know what is expected of them.
Drug testing of employees, etc.
Physical examinations to determine whether a person has a physical condition that would create a problem.
Periodic evaluations of employees, departments, etc.
Bomb-sniffing dogs.
Drug-sniffing dogs.
Geological surveys to determine whether land or water sources are polluted, how firm the ground is at a potential building site, etc.

Standards organizations

A number of standards organizations exist that promulgate safety standards. These may be voluntary organizations or government agencies.

American National Standards Institute

A major American standards organization is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Usually, members of a particular industry will voluntarily form a committee to study safety issues and propose standards. Those standards are then recommended to ANSI, which reviews and adopts them. Many government regulations require that products sold or used must comply with a particular ANSI standard.

Testing laboratories

A number of organizations perform safety-related tests such as Underwriters Laboratories in the United States and the Canadian Standards Association in Canada.

Government agencies

Many government agencies set safety standards for matters under their jurisdiction, such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration.