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Fire, one of mankind's oldest technologies, has a duality about it. Properly harnessed, it can save lives and make life more comfortable and enjoyable. When out of control, however, it can quickly destroy, scar and kill. So many times, we face this duality when dealing with technology and the rules that surround it. As system safety professionals, it is our job to see both how the technology can be beneficial, and the ways in which it can get out of control. Devising the checks and balances that help keep people safe and systems in order is our goal and calling.
In "Security in Child-Checking Applications," author Steve Manson looks at the ubiquitous technology of cell phones. On the one hand, cell phones make our lives safer and more convenient by allowing us to contact family members with ease, or to call for help when the unexpected happens. That same ease of use, however, can expose cell phone users — especially children — to an unprecedented risk if spies and hackers make use of the system's safety-critical location information. Since this information is necessary for the system to function, maintaining safety is a challenge, to say the least.
Contributor Charles Hoes, in his "TBD" column, ponders the role of system safety professionals in an increasingly global marketplace. As a consultant for a company producing industrial equipment bound for different countries, he finds that different nations have different safety practices, and that sometimes the rules of one country contradict the rules of another. While a "one size fits all" approach would be ideal for manufacturers, the ideology and the different sensibilities of various nations make this difficult — and can actually get in the way of the intended goal of all the rules: safer products.
Even in systems where there is a high level of automation, the human factor can interfere with the safe operation of a complex system. In his article, "Human Performance Data Collection in Theory and Practice," author David M. Clarke examines the need for system safety designers to gather data that allows realistic views of human interaction with complex systems, such as airplanes and nuclear power plants. In this field, gathering the proper data is doubly important: Good data can lead to solutions that save lives and money, while bad data can lead to improper conclusions and wrong solutions.
In their opinion piece, Brian Scannell and Paul Dailey take a look at the benefits of having a formal certification for safety professionals dealing with systems in the U.S. Navy. The authors also offer some options for education and certification in the field.
As a society, we can learn from each other and come up with solutions together that we might never achieve individually. Journal of System Safety is your forum, so take full advantage of it. We publish technical articles on all aspects of system safety, and we need your submissions. The ideas you present could lead to solutions for problems you might not even be aware of. In an increasingly complex — and sometimes contradictory — world, we need to work together, and the Journal is a wonderful tool for doing just that.
— Niles Welch
Seeking Authors
Journal of System Safety is seeking papers and articles on topics including the following:
- Explosive Safety
- Nuclear Safety
- Hazardous Material Management
- Chemical Safety
- Biotech Safety
- Safety Management Issues
- Human Error
- Software Safety
- Safety-Critical Processes
- Lessons Learned
Please send summaries or abstracts to Niles T. Welch, Technical Editor, at .
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