ABSTRACT
Before you can start applying system safety engineering tools in a practical way, you need to develop an understanding of system safety. Comprehending how accidents evolve from the initiating events, to their propagating effects, to the final consequences is paramount in designing safety into systems. Before you can apply methods to prevent them, you must understand how accidents occur. In developing accident avoidance schemes, or designing accidents out of the system, the practicing engineer must balance the cost and the benefit. A perfectly safe airliner will never leave the ground.
