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Why do accidents and mishaps happen?
Can Accident and mishaps be prevented?
How are accidents and mishaps prevented?

System Safety Paradigms:

·Mishaps can be eliminated or prevented by controlling the risk factors involved
·Mishaps result from the occurrence of hazards existing within a product, process or system
·Hazards are typically man-made; they result from the combination of system laws and standard hazard sources existing within a product, process or system
·Risk is the likelihood a hazard will become a mishap combined with the expected damage consequences from the mishap
·Through the system safety process hazards are identified, risk is determined and safety methods are applied to eliminate or reduce the risk
·The cost of performing system safety is generally less than the costs of not performing it (i.e., mishap costs)

System Laws (that spawn hazards):

·All things mechanical will eventually fail
·Humans will eventually error; human error is a consequence of natural human fallibility (not necessarily negligence)
·Poor product designs and procedures can lead humans to commit errors
·All functions and processes have the capability for unintended consequences
Definitions:

·Safety
·Hazard
·Mishap

·Humans will always eventually error, but mishaps can be prevented.320.9.0.00

The basic interrelated goals of system safety are to:

·Proactively prevent product/system accidents and mishaps
·Protect the system and its users, the public and the environment from mishaps
·Identify and eliminate/control hazards
·Design and develop a system presenting minimal mishap risk
·Create a safe system by intentionally designing safety into the overall system fabric

There are several “system laws” that essentially state that systems have a natural proclivity to fail. These laws create hazard existence factors which explain the various reasons why hazards exist within systems.
The system laws illuminating why hazards exist include:

·Systems must include and utilize components that are naturally hazardous
·Physical items will always eventually fail
·Humans do commit performance errors and always will
·System components are often combined together with sneak paths and integration flaws
·Systems are often designed with unintended functions that are not recognized
·Environmental factors can influence safe functioning of components
·Software is typically too complex to completely test for safety validation