SafetyBarrierManager is a tool to construct safety-barrier diagrams. Safety-barrier diagrams are descriptions of possible accident scenarios using the idea of “safety barriers” that can abort the accident sequence and return to a safe state. Safety-barrier diagrams are comparable to “Bowtie diagrams”, with the advantage of quantification (among other things). Safety-barrier diagrams can be used to perform full quantified risk assessment. This page describes some of the features of the SafetyBarrierManager software.
Example of a safety-barrier diagram
Graphical features
SafetyBarrierManager offers the following possibilities:
- Full control over the graphical lay-out;
- Shape, size and look of conditions and barriers can be changed;
- Barrier types (passive, active, human interventions) can be shown with different colors and fill patterns;
- Diagrams in a project can be split or merged to support piece-wise development. This gives overview and simplicity, while the logical relations between events and conditions are maintained throughout the set of diagrams;
- The tool includes “OR”- and “AND” gate elements and elements to build event trees. Therefore one can build complete cause-consequence diagrams, fault trees and event trees;
Ease-of-use
- Safety-barrier diagrams can be constructed by dragging and dropping elements on the canvas, by textual input, or a combination of those;
- Parts for the diagrams can be copied for re-use;
- The analyst is forced to “keep to the rules” for logically consistent diagrams;
- The user is guided through the process of starting a new project in about 5 to 6 steps;
- A number of templates is available to start drawing diagrams, and a number example projects are available which can be used as a starting point;
- An extensive help file is provided.
Information behind the graphics
- It is possible to add comprehensive descriptions to barriers, conditions, and other elements. The descriptions can be viewed by browsing/scrolling through a graphical display of the diagram, as shown below:
Main interface showing expanded description of the barrier “control of level indicator”
- Terms in the descriptions can be customized and translated into the local language;
- Additional external information (documents, pictures, graphs, internet resources) can be linked to barriers, conditions and other elements in the diagram;
Analysis features
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The likelihood of the final consequence and all intermediate conditions can be evaluated automatically, using advanced fault tree and binary decision diagram technology;
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Each barrier is linked to a ”barrier type” to express relations with safety measures and/or management actions, e.g. as proposed in the ARAMIS methodology;
- The level of confidence of barriers can be adjusted according to management quality as described in the ARAMIS methodology;
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Dependency between barriers can be included through “common elements” like power supply, operators, control systems. These dependencies can be visualised on the diagram and are accounted for in the quantification;
- The structure and details of a barrier diagram are saved as an XML file. XML data can be viewed by a normal browser, and any XML based database tool can extract data from the diagram project file
Presentation of results
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Results can be shown as a risk matrix. All scenario outcomes (consequences) can be presented in a customizable three-color risk matrix. The risk matrix can be exported to MS Excel® with the names of the consequences printed in the respective cells. In the diagram, the consequence objects can shown with colors from the risk matrix, see the diagram above. The colors in the risk matrix can be customized;
Risk matrix
- Other risk reducing measures can be linked to safety barriers and initiating events, and these can be shown (toggled on/off) in the graphs:
Safety-barrier diagram showing additional risk reducing measures – the color links the measures to safety management areas
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It is possible to extract comprehensive lists and descriptions of barriers into MS Excel® sheets to include them in Safety documents;
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Export graph to bitmap (bmp, png) and clipboard in different resolutions
Share and publish on the web
- The results of SafetyBarrierManager can be published on the internet directly, with many of the features to show and extract data available on laptop, tablet or smartphone. Browse through the gallery for examples.