A study of integration Model-Based Safety Analysis (MBSA) techniques with Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) to perform safety assessment on system models

Abstract

A state-of-the-art technique has been introduced in recent years called STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis), which is based upon a new accident model called STAMP (Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes). This technique’s focus on defining the initial design decisions based on safety considerations is one of its advantages. Our recent efforts have focused on enhancing MBSA (Model-Based Safety Analysis) instruments to deliver more precise, coherent failure analysis automatically. Our established techniques are based on the systematic capture of the important individual components or combinations that lead to a system failure using component models of failure modes in conjunction with a system structure. We have also developed an extension to perform the STPA procedures within the MBSA environment. In this journal, we aim to integrate both the developed MBSA tool and the STPA extension to provide additional system design-related results. The STPA results shall be injected into the system model as components’ failure modes to visualize the system effects of each non-safe scenario. This journal extends the research work we have introduced in our previous publications.