ABSTRACT
Electronics and software are used increasingly in safety related applications and the number of reported incidents in which software is involved as a possible cause is growing. The emerging standards for safety related systems stress the need for adequate quality assurance during the design process. The nature of software quality assurance and its relationship to safety is discussed. Prevailing attitudes in industry are considered and it is shown that there is a need for these to change. The range of available guidance on the introduction and use of software quality assurance is also increasing and the time is right for this to find its way into every organisation writing software and not just the larger corporations for whom it is now showing a return.
