The LRET Centre for Safety and Reliability Engineering
Public Benefit
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| Study towards our MSc in Safety & Reliability Engineering | |
The relative safety, reliability and integrity of complex engineering systems are often taken for granted, at least catastrophic and high-profile failures occur such as the Piper Alpha disaster (1988), the Hatfield train derailment (2000), the Columbia shuttle loss (2003), the Buncefield oil storage depot fire (2005), the Texas City Refinery explosion (2005), the Deepwater Horizon disaster (2010) and the even more recent failure of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan (2011) following a major earthquake and tsunami event. The margins between safety and disaster are often small and, in addition to the failures that reach the world news, there is a steady stream of industry-related fatal accidents and engineering failures. In the UK alone, these cost around 400 lives every year, together with many more serious injuries. On a worldwide basis the problems are even more acute, especially among emerging industrial economies. Such events are often accompanied by significant environmental pollution and financial loss.
Through research and teaching, the Centre for Safety and Reliability Engineering enables the University of Aberdeen to take a leading role in disseminating best practice in the safe design and operation of complex engineering systems. Our graduates play leading roles in improving safety culture and practices across a wide range of industry worldwide and our research leads to better understanding of the causes of failure and better tools and methodologies for the design of safer and more reliable structures, facilities and operations.