Safety
Aitken & Partners takes a very broad view of safety; we consider equipment and technical systems in their human environment. This is often described as Functional Safety, although that term is often more limited in its application. Few, if any, organisations are capable of fully addressing all the considerations for functional safety. Our expertise is in the electrical area, particularly in the railway environment. We have particular skills in electromagnetic compatibility, communication systems, locomotives and signalling systems.
"Safety is not the absence of failures. Safety is the presence of defenses." Todd Conklin
Things that go Wrong
Sometimes things do not work as expected. The consequences are often tragic and affect many people directly and indirectly. The railway industry, like many others, seeks to learn from each time that something has gone wrong. Accident investigation reports are made available by many railway investigators and contain very useful analysis of incidents. At Aitken & Partners we study these reports, seeking to increase our understanding and the resilience of systems used by our clients. Some of our findings are in our technical papers, which you are welcome to download.