Safetycritical
Safety-critical describes systems or components whose failure could result in loss of life, serious injury, or significant environmental or public harm. The term signals that safety considerations are central to the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of the system. Safety-critical engineering requires explicit safety requirements, hazard analysis, and risk management integrated throughout the system life cycle.
Common domains include aviation (flight control and navigation), rail signaling and control, automotive safety systems (airbags,
Practice in safety-critical engineering typically involves hazard analysis and risk assessment, development of a safety case,
Standards and frameworks provide structured approaches to achieve acceptable risk levels. IEC 61508 is a generic
Maintaining safety-critical systems also involves ongoing monitoring, updates, and governance to address new hazards, software changes,