Systems Safety Engineer
As safety engineers we work very closely with our respective design teams to identify and mitigate potential safety issues early during system design. Our goal is to prevent injury or loss of life to humans, prevent damage to the environment and prevent damage to equipment or other systems. This is done by conducting a series of analyses, as defined by MIL-STD-882E, during different phases of the acquisition life cycle. The analyses serve to uncover potential hazards that can lead to mishaps. As the system design matures, so does the analysis. The safety lead, commonly called the Principal for Safety or PFS will work with the safety team to develop a risk picture of the system. Safety will work with the design team to mitigate these potential hazards using different methods such as designing them out, incorporating interlocks, adding warning devices or labels or via operator procedures. Not all safety risks can be eliminated. Safety risks that can’t be eliminated are accepted by the appropriate risk acceptance authority. Finally, the PFS presents the safety program to an independent board called the Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB) which is composed of subject matter experts in hopes of getting concurrence to deploy or authorization to fire at a test event. If our safety program is robust and we have objective quality evidence supporting our request, the board will concur or approve our request.