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Foundations of System Safety Engineering - COM00006M

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• Department: Computer Science
• Credit value: 10 credits
• Credit level: M
• Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
  • See module specification for other years: 2022-23 2024-25

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2023-24

Module aims

This module is an introduction to the principles of system safety, including risk, basic terminology, and the main types of hazard and safety assessment techniques. It also provides a brief overview of material which will be covered in greater depth in later modules, such as legal issues, management of safety critical projects, and human factors.

Module learning outcomes

• Identify safety risks and challenges from a wide range of sources associated with complex systems and services
• Use consistent and clear terminology in communications about safety engineering and management issues as well as translate terms across vocabularies used in different industrial domains.
• Identify professional and ethical obligations of safety engineers and address ethical issues applicable to real-world problems.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Module feedback

Individual feedback is provided via the online feedback system. There will be structured feedback showing how your answers achieved the specific points we were looking for in the marking scheme, and additional comments may be provided where required.

Indicative reading

* Perrow, C., Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies, Princeton University Press, 1999

* Roland, H.E. and Moriarty, B., System Safety Engineering and Management (2nd ed), Wiley, 1990

* Perrow, C., The Next Catastrophe, Princeton University Press, 2007

* Leveson, N.G., Engineering a Safer World, MIT Press, 2011

+++ Leveson, N.G., Safeware: System Safety and Computers, Addison Wesley, 1995

+++ Lancaster, J., Engineering Catastrophes (2nd Ed), CRC / Abington, 2000

+++ Kritzinger, D., Aircraft System Safety, CRC / Woodhead, 2006

++ Vaughan, D., The Challenger Launch Decision, University of Chicago Press, 1996