Safety Scanning

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What Safety Scanning is about

The Safety Scanning Technique offers a methodology for the initial considerations on safety within the programme life cycle. In particular, in the context of long term planning activities, such as those represented in SESAR, the methodology contributes to the programme through:

 

The Reasons for a Safety Scanning

Many decisions taken during the concept definition phase have the potential to impact the overall system safety performance. Safety Scanning supports the systematic consideration of safety issues against safety fundamentals within ATM strategy development.

The objectives of safety Scanning are:

 

The benefits of safety Scanning

The later stages of development are better informed about safety issues and safety assessments are more likely to meet the required safety targets.

The safety fundamentals, which underpin Safety Scanning (in effect the audit criteria), promote a common understanding and common view on the essential safety issues engendering the sharing of safety concerns.

 

Hence, the Safety Scanning Technique helps avoiding problems like:

 

The way it works

The Safety Scanning Technique makes use of a list of "safety fundamentals", which are basic design criteria for safe systems. They are based on a review of standards throughout safety relevant industries. In addition to the aviation industry, the experiences from the nuclear, petrochemical, maritime and railway industries were taken into consideration.

The Safety Scanning Technique addresses safety fundamentals drawn from three different perspectives on safety:

 

What are the results of Safety Scanning?

The initial introduction of ATM system changes and their subsequent ongoing operations may raise various safety considerations. The results of the Safety Scanning Technique show the relevant safety considerations concerning an ATM system change. It also gives an indication on the possible effort that will be needed during later phases of safety assessment of the change.

The answers on the fundamental questions are shown in the form of an ABC web chart which makes it easier to pinpoint the most affected Safety Fundamentals. Each Safety Fundamental is represented by an axis. A line, passing through at rating equal to zero, indicates the boundary. If the score for a given aspects falls outside the shaded area, this topic will  require particular attention during the later phases of the safety assessment. See, for example, the figure below.

The results of the regulations affected and possibly affected by the ATM system change are given not by an ABC web chart but as a percentage of the total number of regulatory documents identified, together with a direct link to a list of affected documents,