Engineering systems

Nancy Leveson

This groundbreaking work presents a systems-thinking approach to safety engineering, arguing that accidents in complex technologies cannot be understood solely as the result of component failures or individual mistakes. It introduces the Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP), a framework that examines how safety constraints, control structures, organizational decisions, and interactions across a system can combine to produce unexpected outcomes. Drawing on examples from aviation, transportation, healthcare, and other high-risk domains, the book shows how STAMP can improve hazard analysis, accident investigation, design, and risk management. Rigorous yet accessible, it offers engineers, safety professionals, and system designers a powerful way to create safer, more resilient systems.