Warfighting systems are inherently hazardous given that they are generally designed to inflict serious or even lethal damage on an enemy. However, if not designed or employed properly, these same systems can cause significant damage to our own forces. Systems Safety Engineering is that aspect of the broader systems engineering process focusing on the identification and mitigation, or elimination, of potential hazards during system development and operational utilization. Systems Safety Engineering employs a broad toolset of qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques aimed at methodically identifying potential mishaps, related hazards, associated controls, and risk.
The Systems Safety Engineering Division (Code G70) of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, is the Navy’s premier organization focused on performing systems safety engineering for all topside naval warfare systems, including Engagement Systems, Combat Systems, and Platform Systems. The Division provides critical support to acquisition programs, the Naval Ordnance Safety and Security Activity (NOSSA) and the Fleet by advocating and integrating safety in the development, certification, and deployment of naval weapon systems. Division objectives are accomplished primarily through disciplined Systems Safety planning, analyses, and engineering.
Systems Safety Engineering Process
Systems Safety Engineering activities as developed, documented and executed within the context of the overall systems engineering. It impacts all phases of the acquisition process from Concept Development through Operations and disposal. The systems safety engineering process is designed to actively identify safety issues early in concept and system development and engineer mitigation strategies for implementation and verification.
Typical Systems Safety Engineering Activities include:
- Development of System Safety Plans and engineering strategies
- Early safety engineering evaluation of architectures, materials, human integration, system-of-system integration, and platform integration via Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)
- Analysis of system concepts, designs and integration using techniques such as:
- Detailed requirements analysis and safety verification
- System & Subsystem Hazard Analysis
- Operations & Support Hazard Analysis
- Software Hazard Analysis
- Fault tree analysis
- Promotion of environmental stewardship and compliance
- Participation in laboratory and underway testing events and data analysis
- Coordination and management of System Safety forums and Working Groups
- Documentation and tracking of all hazards utilizing closed loop hazard tracking systems
- Shipboard audits for equipment installation safety inspection
- Final determinations, documentation and presentation of Mishap Risk potential
- Presentation of the safety program and safety engineering results to the Navy Safety Review Boards
- Participation in incident investigations
Areas of Focus
- Maintain engineering expertise and a highly skilled workforce portrayed through active involvement in national, international and industrial safety forums
- Collaborative efforts with academia via experimentation and advanced engineering concepts
- Enhanced system safety engineering methods for the integration of complex systems in a systems-of systems, strike force, joint force and coalition operating environment
- Integration and teaming with Navy leadership on weapon system safety policy certification and system deployments
- Safe development, integration and use of Engagement Systems, including missiles, launching systems, Naval gun systems, directed energy systems, and Marine Corps weapons systems
- Safe development, integration and use of Combat Systems, integrated shipboard training systems, Ship Self Defense System, Aegis Combat System and Ballistic Missile Defense System, Tomahawk Weapon Control System, and Tactical Networks
- Safe development, integration and use of platform systems, including Total Ship Integrated Computing Systems, platform topside fratricide and avoidance control, unmanned and remotely controlled systems, environmental impacts and assessment, and lasers and laser safety training.
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