
Reliability and Safety
podcast episode with speaker Fred Schenkelberg
Is a reliable product safer? Are the safety elements of a product or system independent of its reliability performance? These and other questions speak to the complex relationship between reliability and safety.
Let’s explore the overlap and differences between a safe and a reliable product or system. Concepts like fail-safe and severity indicate part of the overlap. If a safety feature of a system fails, is that a safety or a reliability problem?
It appears I have plenty of questions related to the safety and reliability relationship, yet I suspect that if the goal is to meet customer and business objectives, then creating a safe and reliable system is a complementary endeavor.
This Accendo Reliability webinar was originally broadcast on 12 April 2022.

- Social:
- Link:
- Embed:
To view the recorded video visit the webinar page.
A few links provided by Carl DuPoldt during the live event:
Law of Unintended Consequences (PDF)
Definition of Reasonably Practical link – Australian government guideline
Calculating Factors of Safety and Margins of Safety From Interaction Equations (PDF from NASA)
Insurance Rating Variables – What they are and why they matter (pdf)
Related Content
Reliability and Safety article
Regulation Reducing Safety episode
Inherent Safety = Lower Risks? article
Safety & Systems Engineering episode
Decisions and Safety episode

Fundamentals of Hazard Analysis
Let’s discuss the basic definition(s) of hazard analysis, and review the basic approach to accomplish the analysis.
Leave a Reply