Safety informing design

Evidence suggests that the roots of many accidents occur at the early system design stages. This paper gives an account of one organisation’s attempt to consider safety at the concept exploration or research stage – very early on in the design process. The industry of concern is Air Traffic Management, and the nature of the work involves the development of new concepts to make ATM more effective (e.g. handling more traffic in line with increasing public demand) while maintaining or improving safety. The scope of the safety work at this early stage is more qualitative than quantitative, focusing in particular on hazard and human error assessment, and gaining safety insights from real-time simulations. Examples are given of the detailed safety approach. The safety management framework and organisational commitment necessary to sustain and channel such activities and safety results are also discussed.