Safety case development with SBVR-based controlled language

Safety case development is highly recommended by some safety standards to justify the safety of a system. The Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) is a popular approach to construct a safety case. However, the content of the safety case elements, such as safety claims, is in natural language. Therefore, a common understanding of the meaning of a safety claim may be difficult to reach. Consequently, the confidence of a safety claim can be misplaced. In this paper, we propose to use an SBVRbased controlled language to support safety case development. By using the controlled language, the ambiguities caused by natural language can be mitigated. Furthermore, an SBVR editor for building a vocabulary and a GSN editor with vocabulary support are developed. Finally, a case study has been carried out to show the benefits of using the controlled language for safety case construction.