Working situation model for safety integration during design phase

The fact that the design of equipment and machines can no longer be separated from the concept of human safety has led to the definition of criteria which is linked to the equipment's exploitation and must be taken into account during their design. Firstly, this paper looks at the problem of integrating safety into design as early as possible, reviews the state of the art and examines the research carried out on this subject to date. The area of application of our research is then presented. The production system analyzed is an offset printing line. We propose a system model by defining the working situation and the elements characterizing this situation as well as the concepts relative to these elements. The model is presented and the method is illustrated by the results of an experiment carried out in the design department of an industrial partner. The ultimate aim is to provide designers with the means of integrating information about the potential work context into the equipment's design process from the onset.