February 2020	Safety Systems	Volume 28  Number 1
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SCSC Working Groups

The Safety-Critical Systems Club is committed to supporting the activities of specialist working groups for areas of special interest to club members.  The purpose of these groups is to share industry best practice, establish suitable work and research programmes, develop industry guidance documents and influence the development of standards.

Assurance Cases

The Assurance Cases Working Group (ACWG) has been established to provide guidance on all aspects of assurance cases including construction, review and maintenance. The ACWG will:

●         Be broader than safety, and will address interaction and conflict between related topics

●         Address aspects such as proportionality, rationale behind the guidance, focus on risk, confidence and conformance

●         Consider the role of the counter-argument and evidence and the treatment of potential bias in arguments

One of the working group’s initial activities is to take on board the maintenance of the Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) Community standard.

The next meeting is on the 18^th May 2020, in London.

Lead Phil Williams phil.williams@scsc.uk

 

Security Informed Safety

The Security Informed Safety Working Group (SISWG) aims to capture cross-domain best practice to help engineers find the ‘wood through the trees’ with all the different security standards, their implication and integration with safety design principles to aid the design and protection of secure safety-critical systems and systems with a safety implication.

The working group aims to produce clear and current guidance on methods to design and protect safety-related and safety-critical systems in a way that reflects prevailing and emerging best practice. The guidance will allow safety, security and other stakeholders to navigate the different security standards, understand their applicability and their integration with safety principles, and ultimately aid the design and protection of secure safety-related and safety-critical systems.

Lead Tom Turner tom.turner@scsc.uk

Data Safety Initiative

Data in safety related systems is not currently sufficiently addressed in current safety management practices and standards. It is acknowledged that data has been a contributing factor in several incidents to date. There are clear business and societal benefits, in terms of reduced harm, reduced commercial liabilities and improved business efficiencies, in investigating and addressing outstanding challenges related to safety of data.

The Data Safety Initiative Working Group (DSIWG) aims to have clear guidance on how data (as distinct from the software and hardware) should be managed in a safety related context, which will reflect emerging best practice. The next meeting is on the 17^th March 2020, in Bath.

Lead Mike Parsons mike.parsons@scsc.uk

Safety of Autonomous Systems

The specific safety challenges of autonomous systems and the technologies that enable autonomy are not adequately addressed by current safety management practices and standards. It is clear that autonomous systems can introduce many new paths to accidents, and that autonomous system technologies may not be practical to analyse adequately using accepted current practice. Whilst there are differences in detail, and standards, between domains many of the underlying challenges appear similar and it is likely that common approaches to core problems will prove possible.

The Safety of Autonomous Systems Working Group (SASWG) aims to produce clear guidance on how autonomous systems and autonomy technologies should be managed in a safety related context, in a way that reflects emerging best practice. The next meeting is on the 11^th March 2020, in Bristol.

Lead Rob Alexander rob.alexander@scsc.uk

Service Assurance

Risks presented by safety-related services are rarely explicitly recognised or addressed in current safety management practices, guidelines and standards. It is likely that service (as distinct from system) failures have led to safety incidents and accidents, but this has not always been recognised. The Service Assurance Working Group (SAWG) has been set up to produce clear and practical guidance on how services should be managed in a safety related context, to reflect emerging best practice. The next meeting is on the 24^th March 2020, in London.

Lead Mike Parsons mike.parsons@scsc.uk

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