Software safety
Software safety concerns reducing the risk of harm to people, the environment, or the economy when systems containing software fail
- If you don’t read comp.risks, you might want to peek at it now and then
It is distinct from reliability, which focuses on increasing the chances that a system works properly
Leveson literally wrote the book on this topic: Safeware: System Safety and Computers, Addison-Wesley, 1995
Much of it is rooted in system analysis, with a focus on software requirements and specifications
- The abilities of the human play a key role in her work
- She’s also worked more recently on human-centered design for safety