'Engineering Systems Reliability, Safety, and Maintenance - An Integrated Approach'

摘要

The author has written a comprehensive treatise that is directed primarily at the reliability and availability of "systems," from the viewpoint of a mechanical engineer, with reliability being obtained by good maintenance programs. The safety of systems is obtained by providing "reliability-centered maintenance" [RCM] of devices and systems where failures could lead to severe consequences; thus, "safety-critical" items, although the author does not use this term. This RCM would include preventive maintenance, and predictive testing and inspection, in contrast to undesired "reactive," "breakdown," or "run-to-failure" maintenance. Although there is no discussion of chemical-plant equipment, the philosophy, discussions, and mathematical derivations could be applied to operating-control systems, emergency-mitigating devices, and other equipment in the chemical industries. There is, also, considerable discussion of several aspects of safety culture, in the six-page section entitled "The Need for Safety and the Role of Engineers in Regard to Safety," in Chapter 3.