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For further details about the seminar and to book your place, please visit the event website.
Please briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience with regards to Safety Cases in the Nuclear Industry
Mark Levy (ML): I have been a safety case engineer for over 10 years, initially focussed on an individual system, then moving to consider the wider plant safety case. My current role is in Safety Case Assurance is essentially functional oversight and looks at the safety case and risk management processes. In other words, our group considers are we working on mitigating the right risks in the right way.
What is the number one challenge for those designing and carrying out safety cases, in your opinion?
ML: There are many challenges, if I were to pick one it would be use of judgements. Judgement is critical in the timely presentation of a safety case whether it be the level of analysis or evidence needed, how to extrapolate or interpret data, or what is the ALARP balance. Making a judgement requires experience but you have to do it before you get that experience. Making judgements can be the right but brave thing to do as these are often what are challenged. Being able to make the judgement, demonstrate how it was made and why its valid in order to get others to share that judgement are a real challenge for safety case engineers.
What is the most important development in this field at the moment, either within your organisation or in the industry in general?
ML: There’s lots of interest at the moment about how the safety case community can utilise the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence. We’ve seen lots of media about Microsoft’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard systems, but there are other AI tools that could be used to improve the efficiency of safety case development, training and identification of risks.
What will you be presenting at the Fit For Purpose Safety Cases in the Nuclear Industry 2023 seminar and how will this benefit participants?
ML: I will be presenting some work we’ve been doing recently to apply lean engineering methods to optimise how we deliver safety cases. I will share some of the key principles that we developed, how we got there and some feedback from practitioners using them. This will provide participants with some examples of how you can make significant process and cultural changes to well embedded key processes.
What is your advice to those establishing or evaluating a safety case for the first time?
ML: Make sure you understand the problem! It might seem obvious but so many times we start working on a case thinking we know what the problem is we need to fix and it turns out we were wrong! This normally becomes clear during the development of the case but I’ve seen it even become apparent at the later QA stages. It can be difficult to challenge understanding for the problem statement but until everyone has signed on to it and shares the same view, there’s a risk of re-work and not meeting the customer needs.
What other topics are you looking forward to hearing about and discussing at the upcoming seminar?
ML: I’m looking forward to hearing different organisations approaches to ALARP, particularly as plants are decommissioned.
Why is it important for engineers and safety practitioners to come together and share best practice?
ML: We all need to learn from each other. Sharing best practice on its own is only part of the picture, we also need to share what didn’t work and the associated learning. Operating Experience / Lessons Learned are critical to minimising errors and mistakes that affect safety. There’s also a commercial benefit as well – the safety way of doing something is also often the most efficient!
Fit For Purpose Safety Cases in the Nuclear Industry will take place on 23 May 2023 in Manchester
The only event of its kind, this popular event brings together experts from various fields, including nuclear safety, engineering, and regulatory affairs, to share their insights and experiences. It provides a unique and essential opportunity for nuclear safety professionals to address and overcome the key challenges for safety case design and implementation.
For further details about the seminar and to book your place, please visit the event website.