My CISSP Exam Journey

Here is a video about my CISSP exam journey.



https://youtu.be/zGof2cB9VW8

I've just passed the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Exam...



Get the full 'My CISSP Exam Journey' free video here.



I've just passed the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Exam, which was significantly updated on 1st May 2021. In this 30-minute video I will cover:



- The official CISSP course and course guide;



- The 8 Domains of CISSP, and how to take stock of your knowledge of them;



- The official practice questions and the Study Guide;



- The CISSP Exam itself; and



- Lessons learned from my journey.



I wish you every success in your CISSP journey: it's tough, but you can do it!



To get a full course on what's new in all eight Domains of the CISSP Exam outline (for FREE!) Click Here.



Transcript: My CISSP Exam Journey



Hi, Everyone,



My name is Simon Di Nucci and I've just passed the new CISSP exam; for those of you who don't know what that is, that's the Certified Information Systems Security professional. It's new because the exams have been around a long time, but the syllabus and the exam itself have undergone a significant change as of the 1st of May this year. I’m probably one of the first people to pass the new exam, which I have to tell you was a great relief because it was really it was a tough exam and it was tough preparing for it.



It was a big mountain to climb. I am very, very relieved to have passed. Now, I hope to share some lessons with you. When I mentioned that I passed on the cybersecurity groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, I got a huge response from people who appreciated how difficult it is to do this and also lots of questions. And whilst I can't talk about the specifics of the exam, that's not allowed, I can share some really useful lessons learned from my journey.



Introduction



So I'm going to be talking about what I did:



- The Official Course, and the Student Guide;



- How I took stock at the start of the revision process;



- How I revised using the practice questions and the Study Guide;



- Something about the exam itself; and



- Lessons learned.



The Official Course



So let's get on with it.  My journey was that two, or three years ago, the firm that I worked for decided that they wanted me to take the CISSP exam in order to improve our credibility when doing cybersecurity and my credibility.



I was sent on a five-day course which was very intense and it was the official book.is the official ISC2 course. And that was several hundred slides a day for five days. It was very intense. And as you can see, the guy that you get with a pretty hefty eight hundred pages of closely packed and high-quality material. I was taught by someone who was clearly a very experienced expert in the field.



It was a good quality course. It cost about $3,700 (Australian). I think that's about $2,500 (US). In terms of the investment, I think it was worth it because it covered a lot of ground and I was very rusty on a lot of this stuff. It was it was a useful ‘crammer’ to get back into this stuff. As I said, 800 pages long. I've done a lot of revising!



Practical Things



Let's put that to one side. The course was very good, but of course, it takes some time out of your schedule to do it. You need the money and the support from your workplace to be able to do that. There are now online courses, which I haven't been on, I can't say how good they are, but they are cheaper and they're spread out. I think you do a day or two per week for a period of several weeks.



And I think that's got to be really good because you're going to have more time to consolidate this huge amount of information in your head. No disrespect to the face-to-face course. It was very good. I think the online courses could be even better and a lot more accessible.  That was the course. Now, I did that in November twenty nineteen and I intended to do some revision and then take the exam probably in early.



In March, April 2020, global events got in the way of that and all the exam centers were closed down. I couldn't do that. Basically, I sort of forgot about it for a period of months. And then at the tail end of 2020, as things began to improve here in Australia at least, we've been very lucky here, exam centers reopened and I thought, well, I really should get back and, you know, try and schedule the exam and do some revision and get on with it.



Exam Preparation



So I did. And starting in the January of this year, I got my management agreement that I would spend one day a week working from home, revising, and that's what I did. Given that I took the exam in the middle of May, that's probably 18 full days of revision going through the material and I needed it. Originally, I was going to take the exam, I think, in early April, but I realized at the end of March that I was not ready and I needed more time.



So I put the exam date back to the middle of May. And it was only after I'd done that that it was announced that the syllabus of the exam was changing quite significantly. That was a, you know, extra work then. And fortunately. They. They brought out the official guide to the new exam, and I realized that quite a lot of material to learn. I went through and for example, there are eight domains in CISSP.



And for example, here's domain number two, asset security. In the pink, I have highlighted all the new things that are in the 1st of May Edition syllabus that were not in the 2018 syllabus.  and I went through all of these things and there are quite a few in almost every domain except the first one. There are significant changes.  I had to do a lot of extra revision because the syllabus had changed, but nevertheless, it was doable.



To get regular updates from The Safety Artisan, Click Here. For more introductory lessons Start Here.

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Simon Di Nucci https://www.safetyartisan.com/2023/09/27/my-cissp-exam-journey/

How to Demonstrate SFARP

In this lesson, I will teach you how to demonstrate SFARP. I've been doing this on complex programs for 20+ years now, both in the UK and Australia. The concept of 'reasonably practicable' is much easier to apply than people think. I've watched a lot of programs over-complicate the process. We just don't have to do that! I have some practical tips for you, not just theory...



The proper phrase, from the Australian WHS Act, is 'how to eliminate or minimize risks so far as is reasonably practicable'. (The Act never uses the acronym SFARP or SFAIRP, but everyone else does.)



Learning Objectives | Topics | Transcript



https://youtu.be/Ud8WHAcY0L4

Demo of How to Demonstrate SFARP.



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This will build upon the post So Far As is Reasonably Practicable, where I shared the guidance from Safe Work Australia.



Learning Objectives: How to Demonstrate SFARP



You will be able to:



- Understand the SFARP concept;



- Understand the various SFARP techniques;



- Apply those techniques, in the correct order, in practice.



- These will allow you to perform most* SFARP demonstrations, confident that you know what you can and can’t do.



*A fully quantitative Cost-Benefit Analysis also requires you to understand and apply the concept of risk tolerability, which is another lesson.



Topics: How to Demonstrate SFARP



- Introduction – Reasonably Practicable;



- How to SFARP with:



- Codes, Standards & Regulations; and



- Controls, or groups of controls.



- Some practical hints on good practice;



- Examples; and



- Source information.



Transcript: How to Demonstrate SFARP



Welcome to the safety artisan, I’m Simon and in this session, I’m going to be talking about SFARP – so far as is reasonably practicable.



This is a very misunderstood topic, but we’re going to be explaining how to demonstrate that risks have been eliminated or minimized so far as is reasonably practicable in accordance with Australian work, health, and safety law.



Topics



 So, we’re going to be talking about how to demonstrate SFARP, in accordance with Australian WHS. The observant among you will notice that I don’t have an Aussie accent.  I wasn’t born here, but I have worked in Australia on safety According to WHS for 10 years.  So I have learned how to do it, and I think importantly, I’ve learned the differences from the way it’s done in the UK.



Because SFARP or ALARP is done in the UK.  Although the legislation is different incidentally have a look at the lesson on Australian WHS for that. But that’s for another session.



Learning Objectives



So our learning objectives for this session at the end of this session, you should understand the SFARP concept and what it’s all about. You should understand the various techniques that are available to you and most importantly of all, you will be able to apply these techniques in the correct order because that’s important in the real world in practice. So those are the three general learning objectives.



Having learned these things, you will be able to perform most SFARP demonstrations confident that you know what you can do and what you can’t do. Perhaps more importantly, also what you should and shouldn’t do.



I say most SFARP demonstrations because to do a fully quantitative cost-benefit analysis, you will also need to understand the concept of risk tolerability and that’s another lesson.  I will go through that in a practical example, but I’m not going to explain risk tolerability today.



Australian WHS



I’m going to go through what 'reasonably practicable' means in Australian WHS because that’s the key to the whole thing.  Then we’re going to look at our various options for determining whether the risk is SFARP or not.



First, we’re going to look at codes of practice, standards, and regulations. In the second part, we’re going to look at how we assess controls or groups of controls to see whether we’ve done enough.



 All the way through, I’m going to be giving you some practical hints and tips on good practice to use and bad practice to avoid – as part of that will cover some examples.  I’ve got one particular example at the end, which you’ll see.  Finally, some brief notes on source information and where you can get more information.



 So that’s what we’re going to cover.



Introduction



Australian WHS legislation requires us, as I think I’ve said before, to eliminate or minimize risks so far as is reasonably practicable.  That’s the origin of the acronym SFARP (you might see it written as SFAIRP), and the core concept of that is reasonably practicable.  And this concept is in the WHS Act, it’s in the Regulations and it’s in the Codes of Practice.



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My name’s Simon Di Nucci. I’m a practicing system safety engineer, and I have been, for the last 25 years; I’ve worked in all kinds of domains, aircraft, ships, submarines, sensors, and command and control systems, and some work on rail air traffic management systems, and lots of software safety. So, I’ve done a lot of different things!



How to Demonstrate SFARP: Any Questions?

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Simon Di Nucci https://www.safetyartisan.com/2023/09/13/how-to-show-that-risks-are-sfarp/

CISSP 2021: What's New?

In this course, 'CISSP 2021: What's New?', I look at the significant changes made to the CISSP Official Exam Outline (the course syllabus). You can now get this entire course for free here.



What You Can Learn



- What's new in the CISSP Curriculum, from May 1st, 2021 (next update in 2024)



- There are still Eight Domains – D1, D3 & D7 are still broader in content than others.



- Very small changes (+/-1%) to the weighting of two domains.



- Notable changes to all domains, except D1.



- As of late 2019, some of the changes were Already in Official Course (AOC), i.e. the Student (course) Guide; Study Guide; and Official Practice Tests.



- D2: Resource types and data activities listed (AOC);



- D3: Fourteen designs/solutions listed (50% AOC); and thirteen cryptanalytic attacks listed (some AOC);



- D4: Lists several new network architectures;



- D5: Additions to all existing sub-domains & new 5.6 on authentications systems;



- D6: More detail on security test output and reporting;



- D7: Minor changes to 6/15 sub-domains; and



- D8: More detail added to all sub-domains.



https://youtu.be/-_hDlgfdbc8

This is the Introduction & Foreword to the full three-hour course.



Get the free course



Who is this Course for?



Students wishing to become Certified Information Systems Security Professionals.



Are there any Prerequisites?



I designed this course to help students prepare for the current (2021-2024) version of the CISSP Exam. It does not replace the official ISC2 course materials, but it will help you get the most out of them.



CISSP 2021: What's New?



I've just passed the new version of the CISSP Exam, and I created this Course to help you pass as well!



This course describes the changes to the Certified Information Systems Security Professional Exam Outline. Now, CISSP has been around for quite some time and the previous version of the course syllabus was established in April 2018.  In 2021, ISC2 updated the Exam Outline significantly.  In this course, I'm going to go through all of that material for you and show you what has changed, in detail, to help you with your revision.



Here, I give you an overview of what's changed and how this material has been developed for you.



In the course, we're going to cover all eight domains from 'Security and Risk Management' all the way through to 'Software Development Security.  The CISSP is a very broad course and it covers all sorts of things like physical security and fire prevention right through to some more detailed technical stuff on the workings of the Internet, software development, and security testing as well.



There have been significant changes to all of those domains except one. (There's a small change to number one, as we will see, but it's not huge.) However, Domains 2 to 8 have all gone undergone significant changes.  (Some of those changes were already in the official course material, in the study guide and some were already in the official practice tests; we will cover that too.)



Course Creation



Also, I wanted to let you know what I've done to create this course.



I went on the official five-day course, which cost about $2,500 (US), where we went through hundreds of slides per day.  You get a course guide with it, which is 800-pages long.  There is a lot of good material in there, an awful lot to learn.  In addition, I've also been through the official study guide, which is 1,000 pages and contains quite a lot of material that wasn't in the official course. 



Then there is the CISSP glossary, which is about 50 pages and that's got over 400 definitions in.  (The glossary is not so much use. It seems to be quite out of date to me. There are a lot of definitions that you don't need and quite a few that you do need that are missing.) 



The bibliography lists 50+ references for you to read.  You shouldn't have to read 50+ books and standards!



Just the first two are 1,800 pages long.  So it's an enormous hill to climb without some guidance to help you where to look.  I've included page numbers for the Official Study Guide - where it covers the material we're going to talk about.  However, even the Study Guide doesn't cover everything - as you will see.  So, I've been online and looked up the information to get you started.



Links to CISSP 2021: What's New?



Get the free course



(Learn about my CISSP 2021 Exam Journey here. That course is also FREE.)

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Simon Di Nucci https://www.safetyartisan.com/2023/08/09/cissp-2021-whats-new/

Introduction to Human Factors

In this 40-minute video, 'Introduction to Human Factors', I am very pleased to welcome Peter Benda to The Safety Artisan.



Peter is a colleague and Human Factors specialist, who has 23 years' experience in applying Human Factors to large projects in all kinds of domains. In this session we look at some fundamentals: what does Human Factors engineering aim to achieve? Why do it? And what sort of tools and techniques are useful?



This is The Safety Artisan, so we also discuss some real-world examples of how erroneous human actions can contribute to accidents. (See this post for a fuller example of that.) And, of course, how Human Factors discipline can help to prevent them.



https://youtu.be/FnL4XuLlvoQ

In 'Introduction to Human Factors', Peter explains these vital terms to us!



Topics



- Introducing Peter;



- The Joint Optimization Of Human-Machine Systems;



- So why do it (HF)?



- Introduction to Human Factors;



- Definitions of Human Factors;



- The Long Arm of Human Factors;



- What is Human Factors Integration? and



- More HF sessions to come...



Introduction to Human Factors: Transcript



Introduction



Simon:  Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Safety Artisan: Home of Safety Engineering Training. I'm Simon and I'm your host, as always. But today we are going to be joined by a guest, a Human Factors specialist, a colleague, and a friend of mine called Peter Benda. Now, Peter started as one of us, an ordinary engineer, but unusually, perhaps for an engineer, he decided he didn't like engineering without people in it. He liked the social aspects and the human aspects and so he began to specialize in that area. And today, after twenty-three years in the business, and first degree and a master's degree in engineering with a Human Factors speciality. He's going to join us and share his expertise with us.



So that's how you got into it then, Peter. For those of us who aren't really familiar with Human Factors, how would you describe it to a beginner?



Peter:   Well, I would say it's The Joint Optimization Of Human-Machine Systems. So it's really focusing on designing systems, perhaps help holistically would be a term that could be used, where we're looking at optimizing the human element as well as the machine element. And the interaction between the two. So that's really the key to Human Factors. And, of course, there are many dimensions from there; environmental, organizational, job factors, human and individual characteristics. All of these influence behaviour at work and health and safety. Another way to think about it is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of systems. Systems are for human use, which I think most systems are.



Simon:  Indeed. Otherwise, why would humans build them?



Peter:   That's right. Generally speaking, sure.



Simon:  So, given that this is a thing that people do then. Perhaps we're not so good at including the human unless we think about it specifically?



Peter:   I think that's fairly accurate. I would say that if you look across industries, and industries are perhaps better at integrating Human Factors, considerations or Human Factors into the design lifecycle, that they have had to do so because of the accidents that have occurred in the past. You could probably say this about safety engineering as well, right?



Simon:  And this is true, yes.



Peter:   In a sense, you do it because you have to because the implications of not doing it are quite significant. However, I would say the upshot, if you look at some of the evidence –and you see this also across software design and non-safety critical industries or systems –that taking into account human considerations early in the design process typically ends up in better system performance. You might have more usable systems, for example. Apple would be an example of a company that puts a lot of focus into human-computer interaction and optimizing the interface between humans and their technologies and ensuring that you can walk up and use it fairly easily. Now as time goes on, one can argue how out how well Apple is doing something like that, but they were certainly very well known for taking that approach.



Simon:  And reaped the benefits accordingly and became, I think, they were the world's number one company for a while.



Peter:   That's right. That's right.



Simon:  So, thinking about the, “So why do it?” What is one of the benefits of doing Human Factors well?



Peter:   Multiple benefits, I would say. Clearly, safety and safety-critical systems, like health and safety; Performance, so system performance; Efficiency and so forth. Job satisfaction and that has repercussions that go back into, broadly speaking, that society. If you have meaningful work that has other repercussions and that's sort of the angle I originally came into all of this from. But, you know, you could be looking at just the safety and efficiency aspects.



Simon:  You mentioned meaningful work: is that what attracted you to it?



Peter:   Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Yes, like I said I had a keen interest in the sociology of work and looking at work organization. Then, for my master's degree, I looked at lean production, which is the Toyota approach to producing vehicles. I looked at multiskilled teams and multiskilling and job satisfaction. Then looking at stress indicators and so forth versus mass production systems. So that's really the angle I came into this. If you look at it, mass production lines where a person is doing the same job over and over, it’s quite repetitive and very narrow, versus the more Japanese style lean production. There are certainly repercussions, both socially and individually, from a psychological health perspective.



Simon:  So, you get happy workers and more contented workers -



Peter:   – And better quality, yeah.



Simon:  And again, you mentioned Toyota. Another giant company that's presumably grown partly through applying these principles.



Peter:   Well, they’re famous for quality, aren't they? Famous for reliable, high-quality cars that go on forever. I mean, when I moved from Canada to Australia, Toyota has a very, very strong history here with the Land Cruiser, and the high locks, and so forth.



Simon:  All very well-known brands here. Household names.



Peter:   Are known to be bombproof and can outlast any other vehicle. And the lean production system certainly has, I would say, quite a bit of responsibility for the production of these high-quality cars.



Simon:  So, we've spoken about how you got into it and “What is it?” and “Why do it?” I suppose, as we've said, what it is in very general terms but I suspect a lot of people listening will want to know to define what it is, what Human Factors is, based on doing it. On how you do it. It's a long, long time since I did my Human Factors training. Just one module in my masters, so could you take me through what Human Factors involves these days in broad terms.



Peter:   Sure, I actually have a few slides that might be useful –  



Simon:  – Oh terrific! –



Peter:   – maybe I should present that. So, let me see how well I can share this. And of course, sometimes the problem is I'll make sure that – maybe screen two is the best way to share it. Can you see that OK?



Simon:  Yeah, that's great...



(See the video for the full content)



Introduction to Human Factors: Leave a Comment!

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Simon Di Nucci https://www.safetyartisan.com/2023/08/02/introduction-to-human-factors/

Safe Design in Australia: Overview, Statistics, and Principles

This post provides an overview of Safe Design in Australia: Overview, Statistics, and Principles.



Introduction



Learn about safe design in Australia, integrating hazard identification and risk assessment methods early in the design process to minimize injury risks.



Safe design is about integrating hazard identification and risk assessment methods early in the design process, to eliminate or minimize risks of injury throughout the life of a product. This applies to buildings, structures, equipment, and vehicles.



Statistics and Research



Discover key statistics on work-related fatalities caused by unsafe design and design-related factors in Australia.



- Of 639 work-related fatalities from 2006­­ to 2011, one-third (188) were caused by unsafe design or design-related factors that contributed to the fatality.



- Of all fatalities where safe design was identified as an issue, one-fifth (21%) was caused by inadequate protective guarding for workers.



- 188 work-related fatalities from 2006-2011 were caused by unsafe design.



- 21% of fatalities where safe design was identified as an issue were caused by inadequate guarding.



- 73% of all design-related fatalities were from agriculture, forestry, and fishing, construction, and manufacturing industries.



A Safe Design Approach



Understand the importance of safe design in various industries and explore the considerations involved in the design process.



Safe design begins at the concept development phase of a structure when you’re making decisions about:



- the design and its intended purpose



- materials to be used



- possible methods of construction, maintenance, operation, demolition or dismantling, and disposal



- what legislation, codes of practice, and standards need to be considered and complied with.



Consider how safety can best be achieved in each of the lifecycle phases, for example:



- Designing a machine with protective guarding that will allow it to be operated safely, while also ensuring it can be installed, maintained, and disposed of safely.



- Designing a building with a lift for occupants, where the design also includes sufficient space and safe access to the lift well or machine room for maintenance work.



Five Principles of Safe Design



Explore the five principles of safe design, enabling health and safety promotion throughout the product lifecycle.



- Principle 1: Persons with control—those who make decisions affecting the design of products, facilities or processes are able to promote health and safety at the source.



- Principle 2: Product lifecycle—safe design applies to every stage in the lifecycle from conception through to disposal. It involves eliminating hazards or minimizing risks as early in the lifecycle as possible.



- Principle 3: Systematic risk management—apply hazard identification, risk assessment, and risk control processes to achieve a safe design.



- Principle 4: Safe design knowledge and capability—should be either demonstrated or acquired by those who control design.



- Principle 5: Information transfer—effective communication and documentation of design and risk control information amongst everyone involved in the phases of the lifecycle is essential for the safe design approach.



These principles have been derived from Towards a Regulatory Regime for Safe Design .  For more detail see Guidance on the principles of safe design for work.



Figure 1, Model of Safe Design Process



Ergonomics and Good Work Design



Learn how safe design incorporates ergonomics principles and promotes good work design for a healthy and safe work environment. Safe design incorporates ergonomics principles as well as good work design.



- Ensure workplace hazards and risks are eliminated or minimized so all workers remain healthy and safe at work.



- It can involve the design of work, workstations, operational procedures, computer systems, or manufacturing processes.



Responsibility for Safe Design



Discover the parties responsible for ensuring safe design in different stages of the lifecycle and the importance of collaboration.



When it comes to achieving safe design, responsibility rests with those groups or individuals who control or manage design functions. This includes:



- Architects, industrial designers, or draftspersons who carry out the design on behalf of a client.



- Individuals who make design decisions during any of the lifecycle phases such as engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, installers, builders, developers, project managers, and WHS professionals.



- Anyone who alters a design.



- Building service designers or others designing fixed plant such as ventilation and electrical systems.



- Buyers who specify the characteristics of products and materials such as masonry blocks and by default decide the weights bricklayers must handle.



Safe design is achieved more effectively when all the parties who control and influence the design outcome collaborate on incorporating safety measures into the design.



For more information on who is responsible for safe design see Guidance on the principles of safe design for work, the Principles of Good Work Design Handbook, and the model Code of Practice: Safe Design of Structures and WHS Regulations.



Design Considerations for Plant



Explore the essential considerations when designing plant equipment to ensure safety throughout its lifecycle. Examples of things we should consider when designing plant include:



- All the phases in the lifecycle of an item of plant from manufacture through use, to dismantling and disposal.



- Design for safe erection and installation.



- Design to facilitate safe use by considering, for example, the physical characteristics of users, the maximum number of tasks an operator can be expected to perform at any one time, and the layout of the workstation or environment in which the plant may be used.



- Consider intended use and reasonably foreseeable misuse.



- Consider the difficulties workers may face when maintaining or repairing the plant.



- Consider types of failure or malfunction and design the plant to fail in a safe manner.



Product Lifecycle



Understand the significance of considering the product lifecycle in safe design and how it contributes to sustainability.



The lifecycle of a product is a key concept of sustainable and safe design. It provides a framework for eliminating the hazards at the design stage and/or controlling the risk as the product is:



- constructed or manufactured



- imported, supplied, or installed



- commissioned, used, or operated



- maintained, repaired, cleaned, and/or modified



- de-commissioned, demolished, and/or dismantled



- disposed of or recycled.



Create a safer product by eliminating or controlling the hazards and risks that could impact on downstream users in the lifecycle. Do this during design, manufacture, or construction. In these early phases, there is greater scope to design out hazards and/or incorporate risk control measures that are compatible with the original design concept and functional requirements of the product.



- Designers must have a good understanding of the lifecycle of the item they are designing, including the needs of users and the environment in which that item may be used.



- New risks may emerge as products are modified or the environments in which they are used change.



Safety can be further improved if each person who has control over actions taken in any of the lifecycle phases. Take steps to ensure health and safety is proactively addressed, by reviewing the design and checking it meets safety standards in each of the lifecycle phases.



Subsequent stages of the product’s lifecycle should not go ahead until the preceding phase design reviews have been considered and approved by those with control.



Figure 2: Lifecycle of Designed Products 



Figure 2, Safe Design Lifecycle.



Benefits of Safe Design



Discover the benefits of implementing safe design practices, including injury prevention, cost reduction, and compliance with legislation.



It is estimated that inherently safe plant and equipment would save between 5–10% of their cost through reductions in inventories of hazardous materials, reduced need for protective equipment, and the reduced costs of testing and maintaining the equipment.



- The direct costs associated with unsafe design can be significant, for example retrofitting, workers’ compensation and insurance levies, environmental clean-up, and negligence claims.



- Since these costs impact more on parties downstream in the lifecycle who buy and use the product more, the incentive for these parties to influence and benefit from safe design is also greater.



A safe design approach results in many benefits including:



- prevent injury and disease



- improve the useability of products, systems, and facilities



- improve productivity



- reduce costs



- better predict and manage production and operational costs over the lifecycle of a product



- comply with legislation



- innovate, in that safe design demands new thinking.



Legal Obligations



Learn about the legal duties imposed on different parties involved in the design process to ensure health and safety compliance.



Australian WHS laws impose duties on a range of parties to ensure health and safety in relation to particular products such as:



- designers of plant, buildings, and structures



- building owners and persons with control of workplaces



- manufacturers, importers, and suppliers of plant and substances



- persons who install, erect or modify plant.



These obligations may vary depending on the relevant state, territory, or Commonwealth WHS legislation.



Those who make decisions that influence design such as clients, chief financial officers, developers, builders, directors, and managers will also have duties under WHS laws if they are employers, self-employed or if they manage or control workplaces.



- For example, a client who has a building or structure designed and built for leasing becomes the owner of the building and may therefore have a duty as a person who manages or controls a workplace.



There are other provisions governing the design of buildings and structures in state and territory building laws. The BCA is the principal instrument for regulating architects, engineers, and others involved in the design of buildings and structures.



- Although the BCA provides minimum standards to ensure the health and safety of building occupants (such as structural adequacy, fire safety, amenities, and ventilation), it does not cover the breadth of WHS matters that may arise during the construction phase or in the use of buildings and structures as workplaces.



In addition, there are technical design standards and guidelines produced by government agencies, Standards Australia, and relevant professional bodies



Healthy and Safe by Design



Explore how the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy emphasizes the elimination and minimization of hazards through effective design.



This is one of the Seven action areas in the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022.



Hazards are Eliminated or Minimised by Design



The most effective and durable means of creating a healthy and safe working environment is to eliminate hazards and risks during the design of new plant, structures, substances, and technology and of jobs, processes, and systems. This design process needs to take into account hazards and risks that may be present at all stages of the lifecycle of structures, plant, products, and substances.



Good design can eliminate or minimize the major physical, biomechanical, and psychosocial hazards and risks associated with work. Effective design of the overall system of work will take into account, for example, management practices, work processes, schedules, tasks, and workstation design.



Sustainable return to work or remaining at work while recovering from injury or illness is facilitated by good job design and management. Managers have an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to the design of the work and work processes to accommodate individuals’ differing capabilities.



Workers’ general health and well-being are strongly influenced by their health and safety at work. Well-designed work can improve worker health. Activities under the Australian Strategy build appropriate linkages with healthy worker programs to support improved general worker well-being as well as health and safety.



National activities support the following outcomes:



- Structures, plant, and substances are designed to eliminate or minimize hazards and risks before they are introduced into the workplace.



- Work, work processes, and systems of work are designed and managed to eliminate or minimize hazards and risks.



END: Safe Design in Australia



My name’s Simon Di Nucci. I’m a practicing system safety engineer, and I have been, for the last 25 years; I’ve worked in all kinds of domains, aircraft, ships, submarines, sensors, and command and control systems, and some work on rail air traffic management systems, and lots of software safety. So, I’ve done a lot of different things!



The original webpage is © Commonwealth of Austr​alia, 2020; it is covered by a Creative Commons licence (CCBY 4.0) – for full details see here.



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Simon Di Nucci https://www.safetyartisan.com/2023/06/07/safe-design-in-australia/

Understanding System Safety Engineering: A Holistic Approach to Ensuring Safety

Understanding System Safety Engineering: A Holistic Approach to Ensuring Safety. To know that we first need to understand what Systems Engineering is...



Section 1: The Basics of Systems Engineering



It starts with needs and concepts, which may be quite abstract, and progressively breaks these down into concrete, specific requirements. We also determine how those requirements will be verified.



Section 2: The Transformative Process



We then transform those requirements into a logical architecture and then into a design. Then the design is translated into physical and functional components that can be developed or bought. Through all these transformations, the requirements are decomposed and flow down. Thus, we see how each component, or Configurable Item, contributes to meeting the requirements for the overall System.



Section 3: The Practice of System Safety Engineering



Finally, we must put the components together - integrate them - perhaps testing as we go to make sure that they work together. We can then verify the completed system, and support customer validation.



That's the theory (albeit very briefly, I went on a week-long course just to learn the basics). In my experience, the practice of System Safety Engineering involves five things, it:



- Deals with the whole system, including software, data, people, and environment;



- Uses a systematic (rigorous) process;



- Concentrates on requirements (to cope with complexity);



- Considers safety early in the system life cycle; and



- Handles complexity cost-effectively and efficiently.



Understanding System Safety Engineering: A Holistic Approach to Ensuring Safety



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Understanding System Safety Engineering: A Holistic Approach to Ensuring Safety - watch the Lesson Here.



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System Safety Engineering: Transcript



What is system safety or system safety engineering? Well, as the name suggests, system safety is engineering safety in a systems-engineering context. Okay. So it's safety that's deliberately sat within a systems-engineering framework.



That drives everything about how we consider safety.  Like systems engineering in general, it follows systems theory. But I'm not going to talk about systems theory now. That's a huge subject.



I'm not actually an expert in , but I'm going to talk about three practical things that I've observed from doing system safety for 25 years or so.



Section 5: Considering the Whole System



First of all, we consider the system holistically. So it's not just the technical stuff. It's not just the hardware. It's the software as well if there's any software in the system.



It's the operating environment around the system and what we're doing with it, the functions that we're asking it to do, all the applications that we're putting it to, and we include the people who are using it. We include all the data that's being used, all of the documentation, everything. So we are looking at the system as a whole in accordance with systems theory. That's the first point.



Section 6: A Systematic Process



The second point is that it is systematic from a process point of view.



We're following a rigorous process whereby maybe we start with some sort of high-level requirements, and we think about in safety terms what could go wrong. And we think about all of our safety obligations, what we must do. And then we decompose that, break down the problem piece by piece, systematically down to a component level. And then we consider all of the components, and then we systematically integrate it all back together.



And what I'm kind of indicating is the V model, where we start at the top left-hand corner with our requirements. And then from our requirements, we think about, well, how are we going to demonstrate that we've met those requirements at the end of the process? And then we carry on going down the decomposing into more detail but also thinking about how we're going to verify and validate that we've done what we needed to do at every stage when we integrate and come back up the other side.



So that's the systematic part of the process.



Section 7: Requirements and Safety



And then Thirdly, which are kind of hinted up already, is a big thing about requirements.



In systems engineering, we are talking about complex stuff. It's hard to understand. It's not a toaster. It's not a simple commodity item, where we can just go, well, I want a toaster and everybody knows what a toaster does or should do and what it shouldn't do. We want to want it to toast bread and other things, but we don't want it to electrocute people.



You know what a toaster is. You don't need to articulate the requirements of a toaster. But if it's something more complicated, like a ship or a power station or a complex piece of information technology, you want to develop a big software system to do something, then that's very complicated, and you need to consider the requirements in a systematic fashion, starting at the top level, thinking about big picture stuff, what's the system and its boundaries, what does it interact with?  What do we want it to do?



Then we need to go to a lot of effort to rigorously decompose that and come up with requirements, which you then verify and validate at the end of the project – or preferably before to avoid surprises. That's a big part of systems engineering, as we're dealing with complexity, and systems safety evolved to fit in with systems engineering.  It uses all of those concepts, all of those are powerful levers to help us engineer safety into a system rather than just adding it on at the very end.



Section 8: Think Safety from the Start



I guess that's the fourth big point. We start to think about safety right at the beginning, at the top left-hand corner of the V, not just at the end, and then add it on and hope everything will be all right, because that doesn't usually work. And that's a very, usually a very expensive and ineffective way to do things.



So that's another point that system safety engineering. We are engineering safety into the system early because that is a more cost-effective way of doing it.



Summary



To summarise system safety engineering, remember:



- It's systematic in terms of the way we think about the system and all of its parts;



- It's systematic in terms of the process, the way we approach the task and break down the tasks rigorously and put them back together; and



- It borrows from systems engineering and systems theory in the way we consider requirements.



Those three things are system safety engineering. For more on system safety try the FAQ post and the system safety assessment page.



Understanding System Safety Engineering: A Holistic Approach to Ensuring Safety



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Simon Di Nucci https://www.safetyartisan.com/2023/05/31/understanding-system-safety-engineering-a-holistic-approach-to-ensuring-safety/

Guide to the WHS Act

This Guide to the WHS Act covers many topics of interest to system safety and design safety specialists. The full-length video explains the Federal Australian Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act (latest version, as of 14 Nov 2020). Brought to you by The Safety Artisan: professional, pragmatic, and impartial.



https://youtu.be/Yzkl3vCVYv8

This is the four-minute demo of the full, 44-minute-long video.



buy the full-length video here



Recap: In the Short Video...



... which is here, we looked at:



- The Primary Duty of Care; and



- Duties of Designers.



Topics: Guide to the WHS Act



In this full-length video, we will look at much more…



- § 3, Object ;



- § 4-8, Definitions;



- § 12A, Exclusions;



- § 18, Reasonably Practicable;



- § 19, Primary Duty of Care;



- § 22-26, Duties of Designers, Manufacturers, Importers, Suppliers & those who Install/Construct/Commission;



- § 27, Officers & Due Diligence;



- § 46-49, Consult, Cooperate & Coordinate;



- § 152, Function of the Regulator; and



- § 274-276, WHS Regulations and CoP.



Transcript: Guide to the WHS Act



Click here for the Transcript

Hi everyone and welcome to the Safety Artisan. Where you will find instructional videos like this one with professional, pragmatic and impartial advice which we hope you enjoy. I’m Simon and I’m recording this on the 13th of October 2019. Today we’re going to be talking about the Australian Federal Work Health and Safety Act. I call it an unofficial guide or system or design safety practitioners (whatever you want to call yourselves). I’m looking at the WHS Act from the point of view of system safety and design safety.



 As opposed to managing the workplace although it does that as well. I recorded a short video version of this. In that, we looked at the primary duty of care and the duty of designers. We spent some time looking at that and that video is available. It’s available at safetyartisan.com and you can watch it on YouTube. So just search for safety artisan on YouTube.



Topics



So, in this video, we’re going to look at much more than that. I say selected topics we’re not going to look at everything in the WHS Act. As you can see there are several hundred sections of it. We’ll be here all day. So, what we’re going to look at are things that are relevant to systems safety to design safety. So, we look very briefly at the object of the act, at what it’s trying to achieve. Just one slight of definitions because there’s a lot of exclusions because the Act doesn’t apply to everything in Australia.



 We’re going to look at the Big Three involved. So really the three principles that will help us understand what the act is trying to achieve is:



- what is reasonably practicable. That phrase that I’ve used several times before.



- What is the primary duty of care so that sections 18 and 19. And if we jump to



- Section 27 What are or who are officers and what does due diligence mean in a WHS setting?



So, if I step back to Sections 22 to 26 you know the duties of various people in the supply chain.  We cover that in the short session. So, go ahead and look at that and then moving on. There are requirements for duty holders to consult cooperate and coordinate. Then there's a brief mention of the function of the regulator. And finally, the WHS Act enables WHS regulations and codes of practice. So we’re just mentioned that so those are the topics we’re going to cover quite a lot to get through. So that’s critical.



Disclaimer



So, first, this is a disclaimer from the website from the federal legislation site. It does remind people looking at the site that the information put up there is for the benefit of the public and it’s free of charge.



 So, when you’re looking at this stuff you need to look at the relevance of the material for your purposes. OK, I’m looking at the Web site. It is not a substitute for getting legal or appropriate professional advice relevant to your particular circumstances. So quick disclaimer there. This is just a way a website with general advice. Hence, this video is only as good as the content that’s being presented okay?



The Object of the Act



So, the object of the act, then. I’m quoting from it because I’m using quotation marks, so the main object of the act is to provide a balanced and nationally consistent framework for the health and safety of workers and workplaces.



 And that’s important in Australia because Australia is a federated state. So, we’ve got states and territories and we’ve got the federal government or the Commonwealth as it’s usually known. The laws all those different bodies do not always line up. In fact, sometimes it seems like the state and territories delight in doing things that are different from the Commonwealth. And that’s not particularly helpful if you’re trying to operate in Australia as a corporation. Or if you’re trying to do something big and trying to invest in the country.



 So, the WHS act of a model WHS Act was introduced to try and harmonize all this stuff. And you’ll see some more about that on the website. By the way and I’ve missed out on some objectives. As you can see, I’m not doing one subset B to H go to have a look at it online. But then in Section 2 The reminder is the principle of giving the highest level of protection against harm to workers and other persons as is reasonably practicable. Wonderful phrase again which will come back to okay.



Definitions



 Now there are lots of definitions in the act. And it’s worth having a look at them particularly if you look at the session that I did on system safety concepts. There I was using definitions from the UK standard. Now I did that for a reason because that set of definitions was very well put together. So it was ideal for explaining those fundamental concepts where the concepts in Australia WHS are very different. If you are operating in Australian jurisdiction or you want to sell into an Australian jurisdiction do look at those definitions. Being aware of what the definitions are will actually save you a lot of hassle in the long run.



 Now because we’re interested systems safety practitioners of introducing complex systems into service. I’ve got the definitions here of plant structure and substance. So basically, plant is any machinery equipment appliance container implement or to any component of those things and anything fitted or connected to any of those things. So, they go going for pretty a pretty broad definition. But bearing in mind we’re talking about plants we’re not talking about consumer goods. We’re not talking about selling toasters or electric toothbrushes to people. OK. There’s other legislation that covers consumer goods.



 Then when it comes to structure again, we’ve got anything that is constructed be fixed or movable temporary or permanent. And it might include things on the ground towers and masks underground pipelines infrastructure tunnels and mining any components or parts thereof. Again, a very broad definition and similarly substance any natural or artificial substance in whatever form it might be. So again, very broad and as you might recall from the previous session a lot of the rules for designers’ manufacturers, importers and suppliers cover plant structure and substances. So hence that’s why I picked just those three definitions out of the dozens there.



Exclusions



 It’s worth mentioning briefly exclusions: what the Act does not apply to. So, first, the Act does not apply to commercial ships basically. So, in Australia, the Federal legislation covering the safety of people in the commercial maritime industry is the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Maritime Industry) 1993, which is usually known as “OSHMI” applies to commercial vessels, so WHS does not. And the second exclusion is if you are operating an offshore petroleum or greenhouse gas storage platform and I think it’s more than three nautical miles offshore.



 But don’t take my word for that if you’re in that business go and check with the regulator NOPSEMA then this act the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 applies or OPGGS for short. So, if you’re in the offshore oil industry then you’ve got a separate Commonwealth act plot but those are the only two exceptions. So, where Commonwealth law applies the only things that WHS. does not apply to is commercial ships and offshore platforms I mentioned state and territory vs. Commonwealth. All the states and territories have adopted the model WHS system except Victoria which so far seems to be showing no interest in adopting WHS.



 Thanks, Victoria, for that. That’s very helpful! Western Australia is currently in process of consultation to adopt WHS, but they’ve still got their current OH&S legislation. So just note that there are some exclusions there. OK so if you’re in those jurisdictions then WHS does not apply. And of course, there are many other pieces of legislation and regulation that cover particular kinds of risk in Australia. For example, there’s a separate act called ARPANS that covers ionizing a non-ionizing radiation.



There are many other acts that cover safety and environmental things. Let’s go back one when I’m talking about those specific acts. They only apply to specific things whereas WHS act is a general Act applies to everything except those things that it doesn’t like to write move on.



So Far As is Reasonably Practicable



Okay now here we come to one of these three big ticket items and I’ve got two slides here. So, in this definition of reasonably practicable when it comes to ensuring health and safety reasonably practicable means doing what you are reasonably able to do to achieve the high standards of health safety in place.



 Considering and weighing up all the relevant matters; including, say, the first two we need to think about the likelihood of a hazard or risk. How likely is this thing to occur as a potential threat to human health? And what’s the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or risk? We’ve got a likelihood and degree of harm or severity. If we recall the fundamental definition of risk is that it’s though it’s the factor of those two things taken together. So, in this first part, we’re thinking about what is the risk.



 And it’s worth mentioning that hazard is not defined in the Act and risk is very loosely defined. So, the act is being deliberately very broad here. We’re not taking a position on or style of approach to describing risks, so to the second part.



Having thought about the risk now we should consider what the person PCBU or officer, whoever it might be, ought reasonably to know about the hazard or risk and the ways of eliminating or minimizing the risks. So, what we should know about the risk and the ways of dealing with it of mitigating it of controlling and then we’ve got some more detail on these ways of controlling the risk.



 We need to think about the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimize the risk. Now I’m probably going to do a separate session on reasonably practicable because there is a whole guidebook on how to do it. So, we’ll go through that and at some stage in the future and go through that step by step about how you determine availability and suitability et cetera. And so, once you get into it it’s not too difficult. You just need to follow the guidelines which are very clear and very well laid out.



 So having done all of those things, after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of controlling it the we can then think about the cost associated with those risk controls and whether the cost of those controls is grossly disproportionate to the risk. As we will see later, in the special session, if the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk reduction then it’s probably not reasonable to do it. So, you don’t necessarily have to do it but we will step back and just look at the whole thing.



So, in a and b we’re looking at the likelihood and severity of the risk so and we’re (quantifying or qualitatively) assessing the risk. We’re thinking about what we could do about it, how available and suitable are those risk controls, and then putting it all together. How much will it cost to implement those risk controls and how reasonably practicable to do so. So what we have here is basically a risk assessment process that leads us to a decision about which controls we need to implement in order to achieve that ‘reasonably practicable’ statement that you see in so many parts of the act and indeed it’s also in the definition itself.



 So, this is how we determine what is reasonably practicable. We follow a risk assessment process. There is a risk assessment Code of Practice, which I will do a separate session on. It gives you a basic minimum risk assessment process to follow that will enable us to decide what is reasonably practicable. Okay, quite a big topic there. And as I say we’ll come back and do a couple more sessions on how to determine reasonably practical. Let's move on to the primary duty of care we covered in the short session.



The Primary Duty of Care



 So I’m not really going to go through this again but basically our primary duty is to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of workers, whether we’ve engaged them whether we’ve got somebody else to engage them or whether we are influencing or directing people carrying out the work. We have a primary duty of care if we’re doing any of those things. And secondly, it’s worth mentioning that the person conducting a business or undertaking the PCBU must ensure the health and safety of other people. Say, visitors to the workplace are members of the public who happen to be near the workplace.



 And of course, bearing in mind that this law applies to things like trains and aircraft if you have an accident with your moving vehicle or your plant you could put people in danger – in the case of aeroplanes anywhere in Australia and beyond. So, it’s not just about the work, the workers in the workplace. With some systems, you’ve got a very onerous responsibility to protect the public depending on what you’re doing. Now for a little bit more detail that we didn’t have in the short session. When we say we must ensure health and safety we’re talking about the provision and maintenance of a safe work environment or safe plant structures or safe systems of work talking about safe use handling and storage of structures and substances.



 We’re talking about adequate facilities for workers that are talking about the provision of information, training, instruction or supervision. Those workers and finally the health of workers and conditions of the workplace are monitored if need be for the purpose of preventing illness or injury. So, there should be some general monitoring of health and safety-related incidents. And if you’re dealing with certain chemicals or are you intentionally exposing people to certain things you may have to conduct special monitoring looking for contamination or poisoning of those people whatever it may be. So, you’ve got quite a bit of detail there about what it means to carry out the primary duty of care.



 And this is all consistent with the duties that we’ve talked about on designers, manufacturers, importers, and suppliers and for all these things there are codes of practice giving guidance on how to do these things. So, this whole work health and safety system is well thought through, put together, in that the law says you’ve got to do this. And there are regulations and codes of practice giving you more information on how you can fulfil your primary directive and indeed how you must fulfill your primary duty.



 And then finally there’s a slightly unusual part for at the end and this covers the special case where workers need to occupy accommodation under the control of the PCBU in order to get the job done. So you could imagine if you need workers to live somewhere remote and you provided accommodation then there are requirements for the employer to take care of those workers and maintain those premises so that they not exposed to risks.



 That’s a big deal because she might have a remote plant, especially in Australia which is a big place and not very well populated. You might be a long way away from external help. So if you have an emergency on-site you’re going to have to provide everything (not just an emergency you need to do that anyway) but if you’ve got workers living remotely as often happens in Australia you’ve got to look after those workers in a potentially very harsh environment.



And then finally it’s worth mentioning that self-employed persons have got to take care of their own health and safety. Note that a self-employed person is a PCBU, so even self-employed people have a duty of care as a PCBU.



The Three Duties



OK, sections 22 to 26. Take that primary duty of care and elaborate it for designers and manufacturers, importers and suppliers and for those installing constructing or commissioning plant substances and structures. And as we said in the free session all of those roles all of the people BCBS is doing that have three duties they have to ensure safety in a workplace and that includes you know designing and manufacturing the thing and ensuring that it’s safe and meets Australian regulations and obligations.



 We have a duty to test which actually includes doing all the calculations analysis and examination that’s needed to demonstrate safety and then to provide needed information to everybody who might use or come into contact with the system so those three duties apply consistently across the whole supply chain. Now we spent some time talking about that. We’re going to move on OK, so we are halfway through. So, a lot to take in. I hope you’re finding this useful and enjoying this. Let’s move on. Now this is an interesting one.



Officers of the PCBU



Officers of the PCBU have additional duties and an officer of the PCBU might be a company director. That’s explicitly included in the definition. A senior manager somebody who has influence. Offices of the PCBU must exercise due diligence. So basically, the implied relationship is you’ve got a PCBU, you’ve got somebody directing work whether it be design work manufacturing operating a piece of kit whatever it might be. And then there are more senior people who are in turn directing those PCBUs (the officers) so the officers must exercise due diligence to ensure that the PCBUs comply with their duties and obligations.



Sections 2 to 4 cover penalties for offices if they fail. I’m not going to discuss that because as I’ve said elsewhere on the Safety Artisan website, I don’t like threatening people with penalties because I actually think that results in poor behavior, it actually results in people shirking and avoiding their duties rather than embracing them and getting on with it. If you frighten people or tell them what’s going to happen to them, they get it wrong. So, I’m not going to go there. If you’re interested you can look up the penalties for various people, which are clearly laid out. We move on to Section 5.



Due Diligence



 We’re now talking about what is due diligence in the context of health and safety. OK, I need to be precise because the term due diligence appears in other Australian law in various places meaning various things, but here this is the definition of due diligence within the WHS context. So, we’ve got six things to do in order to demonstrate due diligence.



So, officers must acquire and keep up to date with knowledge of work health and safety matters obligations and so forth. Secondly, officers must gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the piece and risks they control.  So, if you’re a company director you need to know something about what the operation does. You cannot hide behind “I didn’t know” because it’s a legal requirement for you to do it. So that closes off a whole bunch of defenses in court.

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Simon Di Nucci https://www.safetyartisan.com/2023/04/26/guide-to-whs/