2nd FRAM Workshop - Sophia-Antipolis February 20-22 2008

3nd International Symposium on Resilience Engineering - Cannes October 28-30 2008

Resilience Engineering

The term Resilience Engineering represents a new way of thinking about safety. Whereas conventional risk management approaches are based on hindsight and emphasise error tabulation and calculation of failure probabilities, Resilience Engineering looks for ways to enhance the ability of organisations to create processes that are robust yet flexible, to monitor and revise risk models, and to use resources proactively in the face of disruptions or ongoing production and economic pressures. In Resilience Engineering failures do not stand for a breakdown or malfunctioning of normal system functions, but rather represent the converse of the adaptations necessary to cope with the real world complexity. Individuals and organisations must always adjust their performance to the current conditions; and because resources and time are finite it is inevitable that such adjustments are approximate. Success has been ascribed to the ability of groups, individuals, and organisations to anticipate the changing shape of risk before damage occurs; failure is simply the temporary or permanent absence of that.

The Resilience Engineering Network

The Resilience Engineering Network (R.E.N.) is an open organisation of people and places that are engaged in the development and application of Resilience Engineering. Any dedicated activity on resilience engineering can join the network, as a resilience engineering node (see below). While it is in the nature of a network, that there is no center and that all nodes are equally important, the node in Sophia Antipolis will for practical reasons serve as a host node for information about the network and also provide the basic administration facilities. The URL for the Sophia Antipolis node is <www.resilience-engineering.org>.