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This book describes a systematic approach to risk assessment for complex socio-technical systems like industrial processes, especially innovative ones. It provides an overview of applications of system dynamics theory and methodologies on industrial systems in order to demonstrate the relevance of such an approach in helping to assess risks in such complex systems. An important feature of this approach is that it takes into account the dynamic of the interactions of the components (technical, human and organizational ones) in order to study and simulate the behavior of the system. This methodology helps to define the failures and/or accident scenarios and to implement and test the prevention and protection barriers. This book is of particular interest to students and teachers at university level (Master and Doctorate) and to engineers interested in risk analysis and management.

Resilience has become an important topic on the safety research agenda and in organizational practice. Most empirical work on resilience has been descriptive, identifying characteristics of work and organizing activity which allow organizations to cope with unexpected situations. Fewer studies have developed testable models and theories that can be used to support interventions aiming to increase resilience and improve safety. In addition, the absent integration of different system levels from individuals, teams, organizations, regulatory bodies, and policy level in theory and practice imply that mechanisms through which resilience is linked across complex systems are not yet well understood. Scientific efforts have been made to develop constructs and models that present relationships; however, these cannot be characterized as sufficient for theory building. There is a need for taking a broader look at resilience practices as a foundation for developing a theoretical framework that canhelp improve safety in complex systems. This book does not advocate for one definition or one field of research when talking about resilience; it does not assume that the use of resilience concepts is necessarily positive for safety. We encourage a broad approach, seeking inspiration across different scientific and practical domains for the purpose of further developing resilience at a theoretical and an operational level of relevance for different high-risk industries. The aim of the book is twofold: 1. To explore different approaches for operationalization of resilience across scientific disciplines and system levels. 2. To create a theoretical foundation for a resilience framework across scientific disciplines and system levels. By presenting chapters from leading international authors representing different research disciplines and practical fields we develop suggestions and inspiration for the research community and practitioners in high-risk industries.This book is Open Access under a CC-BY licence.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book explores the implications of acknowledging uncertainty and black swans for regulation of high-hazard technologies, for stakeholder acceptability of potentially hazardous activities and for risk governance. The conventional approach to risk assessment, which combines the likelihood of an event and the severity of its consequences, is poorly suited to situations where uncertainty and ambiguity are prominent features of the risk landscape. The new definition of risk used by ISO, “the effect of uncertainty on [achievement of] one's objectives”, recognizes this paradigm change. What lessons can we draw from the management of fire hazards in Edo-era Japan? Are there situations in which increasing uncertainty allows more effective safety management? How should society address the risk of potentially planet-destroying scientific experiments? This book presents insights from leading scholars in different disciplines to challenge current risk governance and safety management practice.

Integrating development processes, policies, and reliability predictions from the beginning of the product development lifecycle to ensure high levels of product performance and safety, this book helps companies overcome the challenges posed by increasingly complex systems in today's competitive marketplace. Examining both research on and practical aspects of product quality and reliability management with an emphasis on applications, the book features contributions written by active researchers and/or experienced practitioners in the field, so as to effectively bridge the gap between theory and practice and address new research challenges in reliability and quality management in practice. Postgraduates, researchers and practitioners in the areas of reliability engineering and management, amongst others, will find the book to offer a state-of-the-art survey of quality and reliability management and practices.

Dieses Buch führt Sie in Methodik und Praxis des Task Force Managements einKarim Bortal erklärt Ihnen in diesem Buch, was sich hinter dem Task Force Management verbirgt und wie es in der Praxis funktioniert. In erster Linie kommt diese Managementmethode bei der Bewältigung gravierender Krisen und akuter Probleme in Unternehmen und Organisationen zum Einsatz. Doch das ist noch nicht alles – eine Task Force ist auch eine gute Möglichkeit, Herausforderungen außerhalb des Daily Business zu meistern. Dieses Buch präsentiert kompakt und leicht verständlich alle Vorgehensweisen und Entscheidungsprozesse, die Sie dazu benötigen. Der Autor schildert die Aufgaben eines Task Force-Managers, gibt praktische Tipps zur Aufstellung eines geeigneten Teams und zeigt, wie Sie die gewählte Methodik am besten umsetzen. Eine intensive Form der ProjektarbeitBei einer Task Force handelt es sich um eine andere Bezeichnung für eine Gruppe von Experten, die temporär (in Form eines Interim Managements) für das Krisen-, Risiko- oder Problemmanagement innerhalb einer Organisation zuständig sind. Bortal zeigt, dass hinter dem Force Management letztendlich eine intensive Form der Projektarbeit steckt, da es auch hier darauf ankommt, Entscheidungsfindungen und Teambuilding rasch und effizient umzusetzen. Wie Unternehmen eine Task Force erfolgreich in den Unternehmensalltag integrieren können, erläutert Bortal anhand der folgenden drei Fragen: •Wie wird die Task Force in die Unternehmensorganisation integriert?•Welche Rahmenbedingungen gelten beim Einsatz einer Task Force?•Wie gestaltet sich die Organisation einer Task Force?Reale Fallbeispiele aus der AutomobilbrancheDank aktueller Fallbeispiele aus der Automobilindustrie zur Durchführung und Methodik des Task Force Managements erhalten Sie in diesem Buch weit mehr als nur das theoretische Hintergrundwissen. Interviews mit Experten, die selbst Projektleiter einer Task Force waren, aber auch immer wieder Task Forces beauftragt haben, runden das Buch ab und geben Ihnen einen detaillierten Einblick in die Praxis. Ein hilfreicher Leitfaden für Unternehmer, Manager sowie Unternehmensberater.

Managing safety in a professional environment requires constant negotiation with other competitive dimensions of risk management (finances, market and political drivers, manpower and social crisis). This is obvious, although generally not said in safety manuals. The book provides a unique vision of how to best find these compromises, starting with lessons learnt from natural risk management by individuals, then applying them to the craftsman industry, complex industrial systems (civil aviation, nuclear energy) and public services (like transportation and medicine). It offers a unique, illustrated, easy to read and scientifically based set of original concepts and pragmatic methods to revisit safety management and adopt a successful system vision. As such, and with illustrations coming from many various fields (aviation, fishing, nuclear, oil, medicine), it potentially covers a broad readership.

This book presents concepts, methods and techniques to examine symptoms of faults and failures of structures, systems and components and to monitor functional performance and structural integrity. The book is organized in five parts. Part A introduces the scope and application of technical diagnostics and gives a comprehensive overview of the physics of failure. Part B presents all relevant methods and techniques for diagnostics and monitoring: from stress, strain, vibration analysis, nondestructive evaluation, thermography and industrial radiology to computed tomography and subsurface microstructural analysis. Part C cores the principles and concepts of technical failure analysis, illustrates case studies, and outlines machinery diagnostics with an emphasis on tribological systems. Part D describes the application of structural health monitoring and performance control to plants and the technical infrastructure, including buildings, bridges, pipelines, electric power stations, offshore wind structures, and railway systems. And finally, Part E is an excursion on diagnostics in arts and culture. The book integrates knowledge of basic sciences and engineering disciplines with contributions from research institutions, academe, and industry, written by internationally known experts from various parts of the world, including Europe, Canada, India, Japan, and USA.

The “Handbook of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety in Engineering Design” studies the combination of various methods of designing for reliability, availability, maintainability and safety, as well as the latest techniques in probability and possibility modeling, mathematical algorithmic modeling, evolutionary algorithmic modeling, symbolic logic modeling, artificial intelligence modeling, and object-oriented computer modeling. The book encompasses both a depth of research into engineering design methods and techniques, and a breadth of research into the concept of integrity in engineering design. These topics add significant value to the theoretical expertise and practical experience of process, chemical, civil, mechanical, electrical, and electronic engineers, by considering process engineering design from the point of view of “what should be achieved” to meet criteria for designing for reliability, availability, maintainability and safety.