Machine safety blog: Residual risk in machine safety

Machine safety and product safety are alike when it comes to the issue of residual risk, according to Control Engineering Machine Safety blogger JB Titus, CFSE.

JB Titus, CFSE

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Machine safety and product safety are alike when it comes to the issue of residual risk, according to Control Engineering Machine Safety blogger JB Titus, CFSE. In today's posting, Titus said recent news headlines point to engineering failures that, perhaps, weren't supposed to happen.

"Recognizing hazards and mitigating them can be complex. The dangers involving products and machines change over time; the dangers when a machine is being built are different after it is installed and are different again when it is decommissioned and disposed."

Without making excuses, Titus explained the engineering risks behind two highly public incidents involving automotive accelerators and deep-sea oil leaks.

With machine safety, residual risk never reaches zero, he says, but engineers do need to "identify all hazards (risk assessment) and to reduce those hazards to acceptable levels (mitigation plan)."

For more details, advice, and examples, read the full posting: Residual risk is alive and ever present in machine safety.

- Edited by Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com.