Failure is unavoidable
for everything in the real world, and engineering systems/subsystem and
associated equipments are no exception. However failure and its impact can
definitely be minimized to the extent possible at optimal cost by adopting latest strategies/approaches.
Before going further
in details on new approaches to minimize the failure and safety incidents, we
should understand about the fundamentals of reliability engineering and safety
engineering.
Reliability engineering
deals with the failure concept to minimize the occurrence of failure whereas
the safety engineering deals with the consequences of the failure to minimize the impact on the surrounding environment. Inherent /inbuilt safety
systems/measures ensure that consequences of failures are minimal.
The impact of failures
may vary from minor inconvenience and costs to personal injury, significant
economic loss, environmental impact, and fatalities.
Examples of major accidents are Bhopal gas tragedy, Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, etc. Causes of failure may include bad engineering design, faulty manufacturing, inadequate testing, human error, poor maintenance, improper operation/use and lack of protection system against excessive stress/strain.
Original equipment
manufacturer (OEM), designers, and end users strive to minimize the occurrence
and recurrence of failures. In order to minimize failures and safety incidents in
engineering systems, it is essential to understand and implement FMECA (Failure
mode, effects and criticality analysis) recommendations.
Need for higher reliability and safety is further emphasized by the following factors in order to ensure consistently safe, reliable, profitable and compliant plant operation:
• Increased complexity
of products
• Accelerated growth
of technology
• Competitive market
• customer requirement
• Modern safety and regulatory
laws
• Lesson learnt from past
system failures
• Cost of failures,
damages and warranty
• Safety considerations
with unacceptable consequences
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