Harmonizing normative organizational structures and serification & validation concepts for safety critical generic projects

Abstract

Development of a Generic Application or Product (GAP) is always challenging, because it should be designed as much as generic and simply configurable for the final specific applications. If such a development is also safety critical, then the complexity increases dramatically as the resulted system will have impacts on human life, property and environment. The safety management plays a major role to keep this tough development process under control by avoiding systematic faults. Setting up correct organizational structure as well as applying Verification & Validation (V&V) concepts, which are two fundamental elements of safety management, in an accurate way are therefore crucial. This paper discusses railway safety management in terms of organizational structure and V&V with regards to the current normative status with its drawbacks. Proposals are provided for an updated organization and more harmonized V&V concepts including relations with safety management and quality assurance by sharing practical experiences.