A Systems Approach to Safety

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Simon Whiteley, a system safety engineering and accident analysis specialist who helps organizations uncover critical safety issues.

Traditional safety approaches often focus on events and failures, but Simon explains how system safety engineering takes a different approach. It changes the emphasis to look at how systems are controlled to identify a wider range of potential weaknesses, including more subtle factors that get overlooked.

He reveals that you can actually have ‘dangerous successes’ - where systems work exactly as planned, but a specific situation or context could lead to an unintended outcome.

A key part of system safety engineering is the advanced analysis tools used by practitioners, and Simon expertly guides listeners through STAMP-based safety assessment approaches, CAST accident analysis, and STPA hazard analysis.

This insightful conversation gives EHS professionals a new perspective on managing controls, assessing risk and preventing future safety incidents.