Abstract
Computer systems are becoming increasingly complex, especially interactive software systems, namely software user interfaces. The scientific community relies on different methods to assess their safety. This article provides an updated literature survey on hazard analysis approaches used to improve the safety of complex systems. To support the survey, we conceptualise complex systems, highlighting the challenge in terms of assessing their safety. We provide a brief overview on the approaches historically available to tackle issues in those systems, along with their most common methods. Finally, the article focuses in one method of a non-traditional approach, which is described in more details, along with some of its extensions, which seeks to improve the hazard analysis in complex systems.
Copyright held by the author.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abdulkhaleq, A., Vost, S., Wagner, S., & Thomas, J. (2016). An industrial case study on the evaluation of a safety engineering approach for software-intensive systems in the automotive domain.
Abdulkhaleq, A., Wagner, S., & Leveson, N. (2015). A comprehensive safety engineering approach for software-intensive systems based on STPA. Procedia Engineering, 128, 2–11. In Proceedings of the 3rd European STAMP Workshop October 5–6, 2015, Amsterdam.
Antoine, B. (2013). Systems theoretic hazard analysis (STPA) applied to the risk review of complex systems: an example from the medical device industry. (Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Bowles, J. B., & Peláez, C. E. (1995). Fuzzy logic prioritization of failures in a system failure mode, effects and criticality analysis. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 50(2), 203–213.
Castilho, D. S., Urbina, L. M., & de Andrade, D. (2018). Stpa for continuous controls: A flight testing study of aircraft crosswind takeoffs. Safety Science, 108, 129–139.
Dehlinger, J., & Lutz, R. R. (2004). Software fault tree analysis for product lines. In Proceedings Eighth IEEE International Symposium on High Assurance Systems Engineering, pp. 12–21. IEEE.
Dokas, I. M., Feehan, J., & Imran, S. (2013). Ewasap: An early warning sign identification approach based on a systemic hazard analysis. Safety Science, 58, 11–26.
EN, B. (2006). 60812: 2006 analysis techniques for system reliability. Procedure for failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).
Ericson, C. A. (2005). Event tree analysis. Hazard Analysis Techniques for System Safety, 223–234.
Ericson, C. A. et al. (2015). Hazard analysis techniques for system safety. Wiley.
France, M. E. (2017). Engineering for humans: a new extension to STPA (Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Haasl, D. F., Roberts, N., Vesely, W., & Goldberg, F. (1981). Fault tree handbook. Technical report, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (USA). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
Heinrich, H. W. et al. (1941). Industrial accident prevention. a scientific approach. In Industrial accident prevention. A scientific approach (2nd ed.).
IEC, B. (2001). 61882: 2001: Hazard and operability studies (hazop studies). Application guide. British Standards Institute.
Kenarangui, R. (1991). Event-tree analysis by fuzzy probability. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 40(1), 120–124.
Lawley, H. (1974). Operability studies and hazard analysis. Chemical Engineering Progress, 70(4), 45–56.
Leveson, N. (2004). A new accident model for engineering safer systems. Safety Science, 42(4), 237–270.
Leveson, N. (2011). Engineering a safer world: Systems thinking applied to safety. MIT press.
Leveson, N., & Thomas, J. (2013). An STPA primer. Cambridge, MA.
Leveson, N. G. et al. (2014). Extending the human controller methodology in systems-theoretic process analysis (STPA) (Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Leveson, N. G., & Harvey, P. R. (1983). Software fault tree analysis. Journal of Systems and Software, 3(2), 173–181.
Lipol, L. S., & Haq, J. (2011). Risk analysis method: FMEA/FMECA in the organizations. International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 11(5), 74–82.
Lutz, R. R., & Shaw, H.-Y. (1999). Applying adaptive safety analysis techniques (for embedded software). In Proceedings of 10th International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering, 1999, pp. 42–49. IEEE.
Masci, P., Zhang, Y., Jones, P., & Campos, J. C. (2017). A hazard analysis method for systematic identification of safety requirements for user interface software in medical devices. In 15th International Conference on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (SEFM 2017), volume LNCS, vol. 10469, Springer. Springer.
NASA, N. (1966). S. Administration. Procedure for failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA), RM 63TMP-22. NASA, Tech. Rep.
Rasmussen, N. C. (1981). Methods of hazard analysis and nuclear safety engineering. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 365(1), 20–36.
Reason, J. (1990). Human error. Cambridge university press.
Reifer, D. J. (1979). Software failure modes and effects analysis. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 28(3), 247–249.
Robson, C., & McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research. Wiley.
Rosewater, D., & Williams, A. (2015). Analyzing system safety in lithium-ion grid energy storage. Journal of Power Sources, 300, 460–471.
Song, Y. (2012). Applying system-theoretic accident model and processes (STAMP) to hazard analysis (Ph.D. thesis).
Stadler, J. J., & Seidl, N. J. (2013). Software failure modes and effects analysis. In Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS), 2013 Proceedings-Annual, pp. 1–5. IEEE.
Standard, U. M. (1980). MIL-STD-1629A. Procedures for Performing a Failure Mode, Effect and Criticality Analysis. Department of Defense, USA.
Stringfellow, M. V. (2010). Accident analysis and hazard analysis for human and organizational factors (PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Stringfellow, M. V., Leveson, N. G., & Owens, B. D. (2010). Safety-driven design for software-intensive aerospace and automotive systems. Proceedings of the IEEE, 98(4), 515–525.
Thimbleby, H. (2010). Press on: Principles of interaction programming. The MIT Press.
Thomas, J., Lemos, F., & Leveson, N. (2012). Evaluating the safety of digital instrumentation and control systems in nuclear power plants. NRC Technical Research Report 2013.
Thomas IV, J. P. (2013). Extending and automating a systems-theoretic hazard analysis for requirements generation and analysis (PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Yang, C. (2014). Software safety testing based on STPA. Procedia Engineering, 80, 399–406.
Young, W. E. (2014). STPA-SEC for cyber security mission assurance. Eng Syst. Div. Syst. Eng. Res. Lab.
Zadeh, L. A. (1962). From circuit theory to system theory. Proceedings of the IRE, 50(5), 856–865.
Wiegers, K., & Beatty, J. (2013). Software requirements. Pearson Education.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Goiás (IFG) for the support, as well as Dr. José Creissac, Dr. Paolo Masci,Dr. João Fernandes and Dr. Orlando Belo for the valuable insights.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
e Silva, S.R. (2019). System Theoretic Process Analysis: A Literature Survey on the Approaches Used for Improving the Safety in Complex Systems. In: Ramos, I., Quaresma, R., Silva, P., Oliveira, T. (eds) Information Systems for Industry 4.0. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 31. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14850-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14850-8_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-14849-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14850-8
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)