Changing the patient safety mindset: can safety cases help?

Safety cases in industry In the UK and several other countries, including Norway, Australia and New Zealand, operators of safety-critical systems, such as nuclear power plants, public transportation systems and defence equipment, must develop a safety case to demonstrate that their systems are acceptably safe to operate.1 In these countries, the development, review and maintenance of safety cases are regulatory requirements. In the UK, this regulatory practice extends as of October 2023 to high-rise residential buildings following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, during which 72 people died. So, why are these countries promoting the safety case approach across their safety-critical industries? The most tangible reason is the shift from a prescriptive regulatory regime towards a goal-based approach.2 In this approach, regulators establish overall safety goals, offering developers and system operators flexibility to determine the most suitable methods for ensuring compliance. A safety argument...
Source: BMJ Quality and Safety - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research