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How explicit are the barriers to failure in safety arguments?

Smith, Shamus P.; Harrison, Michael D.; Schupp, Bastiaan A.; Heisel, Maritta; Liggesmeyer, Peter; Wittmann, Stefan

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Authors

Shamus P. Smith

Michael D. Harrison

Bastiaan A. Schupp

Maritta Heisel

Peter Liggesmeyer

Stefan Wittmann



Abstract

Safety cases embody arguments that demonstrate how safety properties of a system are upheld. Such cases implicitly document the barriers that must exist between hazards and vulnerable components of a system. For safety certification, it is the analysis of these barriers that provide confidence in the safety of the system. The explicit representation of hazard barriers can provide additional insight for the design and evaluation of system safety. They can be identified in a hazard analysis to allow analysts to reflect on particular design choices. Barrier existence in a live system can be mapped to abstract barrier representations to provide both verification of barrier existence and a basis for quantitative measures between the predicted barrier behaviour and performance of the actual barrier. This paper explores the first stage of this process, the binding between explicit mitigation arguments in hazard analysis and the barrier concept. Examples from the domains of computer-assisted detection in mammography and free route airspace feasibility are examined and the implications for system certification are considered.

Citation

Smith, S. P., Harrison, M. D., Schupp, B. A., Heisel, M., Liggesmeyer, P., & Wittmann, S. (2004). How explicit are the barriers to failure in safety arguments?. In Computer safety, reliability, and security : 23rd International Conference, SAFECOMP 2004, Potsdam, Germany, September 21-24, 2004 ; proceedings (325-337). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30138-7_27

Conference Name 23rd International Conference SAFECOMP 2004 : Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security.
Conference Location Potsdam, Germany
Start Date Sep 18, 2007
End Date Sep 21, 2007
Publication Date Sep 24, 2004
Deposit Date Oct 28, 2008
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Pages 325-337
Series Title Lecture notes in computer science
Series Number 3219
Series ISSN 0302-9743,1611-3349
Book Title Computer safety, reliability, and security : 23rd International Conference, SAFECOMP 2004, Potsdam, Germany, September 21-24, 2004 ; proceedings
ISBN 9783540231769
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30138-7_27
Publisher URL http://www.dur.ac.uk/shamus.smith/papers/smithsc04.pdf

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