This paper summarizes STPA activities and some of the lessons learned within General Motors Company. The presentation will include the following topics.
Initial introduction activities are reviewed and instances of initial resistance from organizational elements are reviewed. This part of the paper will touch on typical scenarios new technologies or methodologies might experience as part of an introduction phase. Key activities such as finding an initial application ?niche? for STPA that demonstrates the value of STPA as well as verifying STPA usefulness are reviewed.
Comparison of STPA to other system safety analysis methodologies such as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and System Element Fault Analysis (SEFA) is presented. This section touches on how STPA can complement these other methodologies within a system safety process and when in the system safety process each method seems to have the most leverage. Also, STPA and Model-Base Systems Safety Representation activities are summarized.
Expansion of STPA usage beyond initial niche application is outlined in the presentation. Use of ?systems thinking? and ?systems engineering? philosophies and techniques for such expansion are discussed. Topics such as STPA evaluation efforts and the effort to educate system safety engineers in the use of STPA is reviewed. In addition, a summary of attributes and skill sets beneficial for STPA practitioners is presented.
The presentation concludes by outlining potential future areas of STPA usage within the General Motors System Safety group.
