Abstract
Descriptive arguments are an intrinsic part of the process of determining the dependability of any system, particularly in the case of safety critical systems. For such systems, safety cases are constructed to demonstrate that a system meets dependability requirements. This process includes the application of hazard analysis techniques. However, such techniques are error-prone, time consuming and apply “ad hoc” reuse. Hence, the use of systematic, exhaustive hazard analysis can lead to an illusion of high confidence in the parent dependability argument that is compromised by lack of rigour.
We have investigated the application of structure and reuse techniques to improve hazard classification arguments and their associated parent dependability arguments. A structure for hazard arguments has been presented and an example from a software hazard analysis has been exemplified using XML. Using two methods of structural reuse, hazard arguments can be improved for both argument generation and post argument construction analysis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Kevin D. Ashley and Edwina L. Rissland. A case-based approach to modelling legal expertise. IEEE Expert, pages 70–77, Fall 1988.
British Standards Institution, London, UK. Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems: Part 1: General requirements, BS IEC 61508-1:1998 edition, 1998.
Stefanie Brüninghaus and Kevin D. Ashley. Towards adding knowledge to learning algorithms for indexing legal cases. In The Seventh International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law, pages 9–17, The University of Oslo, Norway, June 1999. ACM.
Tim Clement, Ian Cottam, Peter Froome, and Claire Jones. The development of a commercial “shrink-wrapped application” to safety integrity level 2: The DUST-EXPERT™ story. In SAFECOMP 1999, pages 216–225, 1999.
Bob Fields, Michael Harrison, and Peter Wright. THEA: Human error analysis for requirements definition. Technical Report YCS-97-294, The University of York, Department of Computer Science, 1997. UK.
Tim P. Kelly. Arguing Safety — A Systematic Approach to Managing Safety Cases. PhD thesis, Department of Computer Science, The University of York, 1999.
Trevor Kletz. Hazop and Hazan: Identifying and Assessing Process Industrial Hazards. Institution of Chemical Engineers, third edition, 1992. ISBN 0-85295-285-6.
William J. Pardi. XML in Action: Web Technology. IT Professional. Microsoft Press, Redmond, Washington, 1999.
Enric Plaza. Cases as terms: A feature term approach to the structured representation of cases. In First International Conference on Case-based Reasoning, pages 265–276, 1995.
Steven Pocock, Michael Harrison, Peter Wright, and Paul Johnson. THEA — a technique for human error assessment early in design. In Michitaka Hirose, editor, Human-Computer Interaction: INTERACT’01, pages 247–254. IOS Press, 2001.
David. J. Pumfrey. The Principled Design of Computer System Safety Analysis. PhD thesis, Department of Computer Science, The University of York, 2000.
Stephen E. Toulmin. The uses of arguments. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1958.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Smith, S.P., Harrison, M.D. (2002). Improving Hazard Classification through the Reuse of Descriptive Arguments. In: Gacek, C. (eds) Software Reuse: Methods, Techniques, and Tools. ICSR 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2319. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46020-9_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46020-9_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43483-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-46020-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive