Safety by design: An expert systems approach.

Industries may require the application of new technologies. In recent years, these technologies have undergone rapid development. Intensely scrutinized in terms of design, new technologies surprisingly receive little attention when assessing the hazards they might pose to worker health and safety. These technologies are usually designed by experts who know very little about safety and health issues. A user-friendly, easily accessible system that is devised to assist designers during the design phase by pointing out the different downfalls of their design with respect to safety and health issues and impacts, can dramatically improve safety, reduce costs, and most importantly, reduce the chances of injuries and fatalities associated with such technologies. This concept involves obtaining data for defining a technology, identifying and defining the elements and the hazards associated with these technology elements in terms of sources and types, evaluating the process to identify potential for human errors, building queries to suggest for removing or controlling the hazards, evaluating the interaction of technology elements, and finally, providing a summary of the hazards identified and suggested corrective measures. Hence, this study was carried out using a knowledge-based expert system (ES). The system was initially prototyped to a small existing technology of very limited scope. All hazardous events related to using this machine were documented into the rules of the ES. This system showed that design-for-safety can indeed be possible using computer systems. The system was researched for its robustness, design integrity, and the advantage of using expert systems for “What-If†scenarios. Ultimately, this system will allow designers to enter and analyze their designs in terms of safety and health. Recommendations will be provided to reduce the potential for hazard exposure and corresponding hazardous events. This tool should dramatically enhance the safety of new technologies at a fraction of the currently incurred costs