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Safety and risk analysis in engineering practice
Safety and risk analysis in engineering is a systematic process of identifying, assessing, and
mitigating potential hazards to protect people, the environment, and assets, ensuring systems are
reliable and ethical; it involves rigorous hazard identification, probability/severity analysis like
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), implementing controls (safety barriers), and
continuous monitoring, crucial for preventing failures in everything from bridges to software.
This iterative process balances technical feasibility, cost, and ethical responsibility to reduce
unacceptable risks to an acceptable level throughout a project's lifecycle, from design to
operation.

Core Concepts
 Safety: Freedom from unacceptable risk of harm, achieved through effective engineering
controls.

 Risk: The combination of the likelihood of a harmful event and the severity of its
consequences.

 Risk Analysis: A structured approach to understanding and managing uncertainty and

potential threats in projects.

Key Processes & Techniques

1. Hazard Identification: Recognizing potential sources of harm (e.g., faulty design,
human error, environmental factors).

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 2. Risk Assessment: Evaluating the identified hazards to determine their risk level
(likelihood x severity).

3. Risk Mitigation/Control: Implementing measures to reduce risk (e.g., process design,

safety barriers, redundancy, emergency plans).

4. Reliability Engineering: Using methods like Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
(FMEA) to ensure system dependability.

5. Process Safety Management: Specific to industrial settings, focusing on preventing

large-scale chemical/process incidents.

Importance in Practice
 Ethical Duty: Engineers are ethically bound to protect public health and safety.

 Decision-Making: Guides decisions, balancing safety with project requirements (cost,

time).

 Regulatory Compliance: Ensures adherence to health, safety, and environmental

regulations.

 Sustainability: Contributes to the long-term viability and success of systems and

organizations.

Application Across Industries

 Aerospace/Aviation: Critical for preventing fatal accidents through rigorous testing and
risk assessment.

 Nuclear: Uses strict protocols and redundant systems to prevent radiation leaks.

 Construction: Protects workers and ensures structural integrity.

 Manufacturing: Prevents workplace accidents and downtime.

safety and risk in engineering practice: a panacea to socio—technical system sustainability

Safety Analysis

Safety analysis is the process of identifying and assessing potential hazards that could lead to
accidents or harm. It involves:

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  Identifying potential hazards
 Assessing the severity of potential accidents
 Developing strategies to mitigate these hazards
For example, in a chemical plant, a safety analysis might involve identifying potential chemical
leaks, assessing the potential harm they could cause, and developing strategies to prevent such
leaks or mitigate their effects.

Risk Analysis

Risk analysis, on the other hand, is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing the risks
associated with a particular project or process. It involves:

 Identifying potential risks

 Assessing the likelihood of these risks occurring
 Assessing the potential impact of these risks
 Developing strategies to manage these risks
For example, in a construction project, a risk analysis might involve identifying potential risks
such as delays, cost overruns, or safety incidents, assessing their likelihood and potential impact,
and developing strategies to manage these risks.

Importance of Safety and Risk Analysis

Safety and risk analysis is crucial in engineering practice for several reasons:

 Preventing Accidents: By identifying potential hazards and risks, engineers can develop
strategies to prevent accidents and harm.
 Reducing Costs: By managing risks effectively, engineers can avoid cost overruns and
delays, reducing the overall cost of a project.
 Improving Quality: By identifying and managing risks, engineers can improve the
quality of their work and the final product.
 Compliance with Regulations: Many engineering projects are subject to safety and risk
regulations. Conducting a thorough safety and risk analysis can help ensure compliance
with these regulations.

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Example of a Risk Analysis Table
Risk LikelihoodImpact Mitigation Strategy

Delay in material delivery High Medium Maintain a buffer stock

Safety incident Low High Implement strict safety protocols

Cost overrun Medium High Regular budget monitoring and control

In conclusion, safety and risk analysis is a critical aspect of engineering practice that helps
prevent accidents, reduce costs, improve quality, and ensure compliance with regulations.

Safety Practices in Engineering (COREN)

Components of HSE Management
Health, Safety, and Environmental management should be part of the engineering profession in
a country for the purpose of:
(a) Duty of care
(b) Economic reasons and
(c) Legal reasons.
HSE management should therefore consider five broad phases:
(i) Specifications
(ii) Design and implementation
(iii) Installation and commissioning
(iv) Operation and maintenance
(v) Changes after commissioning.
Compliance with the standards requires four essential elements:
(a) Identification of safety functions required for the safe shutdown.
(b) Assignment of a safety integrity level (SIL) for each safety function.
(c) Use of the safety lifecycle for the engineering design and
(d) Verification of the SIL achieved for each safety function.
Engineering Code of Practice
The engineering code of practice takes into consideration the following:

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(a) Public Safety: Giving priority to the safety and well-being of the community and having
regard to this principle in assessing obligations to the clients, employers, and colleagues.
(b) Risk Management: Taking reasonable steps to minimize the risk of loss of lives, injuries or
suffering,
(c) Workplace and Construction Site: Minimizing potential dangers involved in
the construction and manufacture of engineering products and processes.
(d) Public/Community well-being
(e) Communication
(f) Conflicts of interest
(g) Confidentiality
The privilege of practicing engineering is entrusted to those qualified and who have the
responsibility for applying engineering skills, scientific knowledge, and ingenuity for the
advancement of human welfare and quality of life. Fundamental principles of conduct of
engineers include truth, honesty, and trustworthiness in their service to society, honourable and
ethical practice showing fairness, courtesy, and good faith towards clients, colleagues, and
others. Engineers take societal, cultural, economic, environmental, and safety aspects into
consideration and strive for the efficient use of the world’s resources to meet long-term human
needs.
Safe Engineering Designs
Safety is a concern in virtually all engineering design processes. Engineers should understand
safety in the context of engineering design and what it means to say that a design is safe against
human injuries. Current design methods prioritize economic considerations over environmental
ones. In some cases, economic considerations also serve environmental goals. For instance, the
minimization of materials used in a structure means resources are saved. If they are saved at the
expense of the length of the operating life of a product, then, economic considerations conflict
with environmental interests which demand that products be made as durable as possible because
of the need to minimize resource usage and waste generation in the long term.
Safety is the antonym of risk. So, a design is safe to the extent that it reduces risk. Safe design
aims at minimizing risk in the standard sense of this term. A safe design is the combination of all
those procedures and principles that are used by engineers to make designed objects safe against
accidents leading to human death or injuries, long-term health effects; damage to the

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environment, or malfunctioning in general. Several design strategies used to achieve safety in
operations of potentially dangerous technology are:
(i) Inherently safe design.
(ii) Safety factors.
(iii) Negative feedback (self-shutdown) and
(iv) Multiple independent safety barriers.
Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is the most common method of assessing safety but safe
designs are used to reduce risks in the standard (probabilistic) sense but are inadequate. Safe
design strategies are used to reduce estimated probabilities of injuries or reduce uncertainties not
only risks. They are used to cope with hazards and eventualities that cannot be assigned
meaningful probabilities.
Design Principles in Engineering
There are four (4) main design principles in engineering practice.
(1) Inherently safe design:
This minimizes the inherent dangers in the process as far as possible. Potential hazards are
excluded rather than enclosed or coped with. For instance, dangerous substances are replaced by
less dangerous ones, and fireproof materials are used rather than inflammable ones.
(2) Safety Factors
Construction should be strong enough to resist load and disturbances exceeding those that are
intended. Common ways to obtain such safety reserves are to employ explicitly chosen
numerical safety factors. If a safety factor of two (2) is used when building a bridge, then the
bridge is calculated to resist twice the maximal load to which it will be exposed in practice.
(3) Negative feedback mechanisms
This is introduced to achieve a self-shutdown in case of device failure or when the operator loses
control. Examples are safety valves that let out steam when the pressure is too high in a steam
boiler and the dead man’s hole that stops the train when the driver falls asleep. One of the most
important safety measures in the nuclear industry is to ensure that reactors close down
automatically in critical situations.
(4) Multiple Independent Safety Barriers

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Safety barriers are arranged in chains so that each barrier is independent of its predecessors (if
the first fails, the second is still intact). The first barrier prevents accidents; the second barrier
limits the consequences of an accident and rescue services as the last resort.
Safety factors and multiple safety barriers deal with uncertainties as well as risks. Currently,
Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA) is used but does not deal with uncertainties. Probabilistic
calculations can support but will not supplant the engineers’ ethically responsible judgment
(environment, health, and safety culture). Safety engineering principles also include education
of operators, maintenance of equipment and installations and incidence reporting are examples of
safety practices of general importance.
Bad Engineering Practices
Seven (7) bad engineering practices have been identified:
(i) Believing that if something is not specifically stated, either “shall do” or “shall not do” in the
standards, an engineer does not need to worry about it.
(ii) Thinking that meeting the minimum requirements means the process is safe and complies
with the standard
(iii) Ignoring the importance of good engineering practice.
(iv) Designing systems that meet economic requirements but not safety protection requirements.
(v) Neglecting human factors (errors in calculations etc).
(vi) Focusing on capital cost and not on lifecycle costs.
(vii) Focusing only on the safety integrity level (SIL) and not on prevention.
Safety is an essential ethical requirement in engineering practice. Strategies for safe design are
used not only to reduce estimated probabilities of injuries but also to cope with hazards and
eventualities that cannot be assigned meaningful probabilities. Designers have an ethical
responsibility to make constructions that are safe for future use. Safety is concerned with
avoiding certain classes of events that are morally right to avoid.
In engineering design, safety consideration always includes safety against unintended human
death or injuries that occur as a result of the unintended use of the designed object for:
(i) Prevention of damage to the environment.
(ii) Prevention of long-term health effects.
For example, if a bridge collapses, the engineers who designed it are held responsible.

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Building designers and builders must obey construction safety in the use of Scaffolds, tool
nets, tool boxes, mechanical lifts, and manual lifts under safe procedures, use of personal
protective equipment (PPEs) on sites (boots/helmets), clear passages, and road-
ways, construction tapes to cordon off work areas, etc. Most engineers have neglected this
aspect, thus, playing with the lives of the generality of the populace. What engineers do has
lasting influences on safety and defines our level of Environment, Health, and Safety culture.
HSE Sustainability Management
This is about the long-term survival of humanity. It recognizes that decisions made today must
enable both those in the present as well as people of the foreseeable future to make effective
choices about their quality of life. Failure to identify risks to safety and the inability to address or
control these risks can result in massive costs, both human and economic. The multidisciplinary
nature of safety engineering means that very – broad arrays of professionals are actively involved
in accident prevention or safety engineering.
A critical fault endangers or few people. A catastrophic fault endangers harms or kills a
significant number of people. Engineer’s errors or inability to incorporate the HSE management
in his practice spells catastrophic.

The Way Forward

Everyone must strengthen his or her understanding of HSE awareness by making safety a
priority. Also, cost-effective solutions in order to gain the most significant return on investment
should be developed. Engineers take the early design of a system, analyze it to find what faults
can occur, and then propose safety requirements in design specifications upfront and changes to
existing systems to make the system safer.
If significant, safety problems are discovered late in the design process, correcting them can be
very expensive. This type of error has the potential to waste large sums of
(i) At all times, take all reasonable care to ensure that your work and the consequences of your
work cause no unacceptable risk to safety.
(ii) Take all reasonable steps to make your management/client and those to whom they have a
duty of care aware of the risks you identify.
(iii) Make anyone overruling or neglecting your professional advice formally aware of the
consequent risks.

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It is critical for engineers to maintain a deep and broad understanding of the many technical and
professional practice issues that they will inevitably encounter in their role as employees of
public owners. This is achieved through appropriate education, training, experience, license,
professional engineering practice, and continuing professional development.

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