IFIS'2010 — International Forum on Industrial Safety

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Innovating in safety

July 6^th and 7^th 2010, Toulouse, France

Rationale

Innovation in technology, in the design process, in manufacturing and distribution, in the organization of socio-technical systems is a source of uncertainty. It raises new questions concerning the safety of new products, processes and organizations. Innovation is also required in risk management activities, in order to meet stakeholders' expectations of continuous improvement of the level of safety. The uncertainty which is inherent in innovation raises questions as to the guarantee of progress in safety.

How then to innovate in safety? In a sector where the “proven in use” notion and learning from experience and operational feedback underpin many safety cases, what scope is there to introduce innovation in safety management? What problems arise from the cohabitation of uncertainty and safety? What types of uncertainty exist, and what is their impact on safety? Which new requirements should be put in place to ensure that safety is guaranteed? How should this assurance be expressed? In the face of uncertainty, how can organizations ensure that they take appropriate decisions concerning risk management, and how should they justify these decisions to stakeholders?

Objectives

The Forum does not aim to provide off-the-shelf solutions to these difficult issues, but rather to analyze the problems raised and their implications for safety management practice. The Forum will allow different viewpoints to be presented, without censoring polemic opinions. Participants will thus obtain a deeper understanding of the specific questions raised by innovation in safety, which should later enable them to implement measures that are appropriate to their specific context.

In order to facilitate debate on these difficult issues, simultaneous translation between French and English will be available.

Audience

The summer school does not aim to go into details of a particular discipline related to the management of specific risks. It shall rather provide a broad scientific culture on industrial safety. The event will be of interest to:

• engineers involved in industrial activities, who wish to obtain an introduction to the multiple facets to be treated and the generic solutions that can be used to handle them,

• members of the public, government officials and industrial decision-makers, representatives of NGOs in order to develop their understanding of the various parameters of their arbitrations between multiple criteria,

• researchers, in particular those planning of participating in multidisciplinary programs on risk management,

• academics wishing to create a multidisciplinary lecture or to place their disciplinary lecture in the global context of industrial safety,

• more generally, anyone interested by any of the various aspects encompassed by industrial safety science.

Contribute to the Forum

To achieve these objectives, personalities from various disciplines (economy, engineering, law, mathematics, philosophy, and psychology), practitioners or researchers have been invited to present their viewpoints. Two “Fast-track” sessions shall allow people to propose new ideas, even if they are not finalized. Undoubtedly, some of these ideas will tomorrow form the foundations of conventional wisdom.

Come present your ideas! Registration is free for contributors selected for a lightning talk. Moreover, you will be a co-author of the Cahier de la Sécurité Industrielle which will collect these novel ideas.

Practical details

• The Forum programme;
• The text of the call for presentations (lightning talks);
• The registration form, to be returned before June 25^th ;
• A map to access the FonCSI's offices in Toulouse, where the Forum will be held.