What can we learn from Grenfell inquiry report? The terrible tragedy of the Grenfell fire in which 72 people lost their lives is a very human story, and something we shall never forget. Is there anything a systems safety engineer should do? Here's a start: (i) Always take a holistic view of a system and its context, don't just look at its parts, (ii) Assess the impact of all evolutionary changes throughout a system's lifetime, (iii) Take a critical view of rules, regulations and standards as they may be not enough to ensure safety, (iv) Consider independent verification of critical items, and (v) Produce a living safety case for the system.
 

The next SCSC seminar on 26th September is all about putting AI and Autonomy into practice and how to ensure safe operation once in service. More details at: https://scsc.uk/e1133

CrowdStrike is all over the news: the impact of the faulty security software is immense. Some systems affected are safety-related (e.g. in Healthcare or Policing) and there will be some direct safety impacts, such as delayed treatments. Harder to quantify is the indirect effect: the mental (and financial) stress caused by major IT failures is huge. We wait to see what the root causes were, but we should not ignore the bigger picture: we have built systems, processes and services around commercial IT in a very fragile way when we know it can fail. Where were the workarounds, backups and alternate systems? This is definitely one for consideration in the 'Safer Complex Systems' Working Group.