There are many high consequence operations where the implications of a safety failure are severe. Safety systems, human control, and administrative procedures are common approaches to give a high level of assurance against disasters. There are two basic safety approches: active safety and passive safety. Active safety systems, require "functioning" elements (operating motors, operator action, etc.) and safety may be based in large measure on functional reliability. Passive safety depends on non-functionality. Active safety systems are teh most widely used and best known types. However, passive safety has been a vital and essential element in the prevention of inadvertent detonation of nuclear weapon systems, which are implemented in conformance with strict "first principles" that are chosen based on fundamental physical relations. While passive safety is not applicable to many situations (e.g., the safety of a flying aircraft must be strongly dependent on active safety), the role of passive safety is important to consider, and its utility to achieve a very high level of assured safety is receiving increased attention.
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