XSTAMPP: An eXtensible STAMP platform as tool support for safety engineering

Abstract

STPA (Systems-Theoretic Processes Analysis) is a new hazard analysis technique based on STAMP. STPA is already being used in different industrial domains (e.g. space, aviation, medical or automotive). To support the application of STPA and make using STPA more efficient, we developed an open tool called A-STPA. However, the current usage of ASTPA by safety analysts in different areas shows a number of shortcomings in terms of documenting unsafe control actions, drawing different levels of control structure diagrams, documenting the causal factors in STPA Step 2 and supporting the application of STPA in different areas. In this paper, we present an extensible STAMP platform called XSTAMPP as tool support designed specifically to serve the widespread adoption and use of STPA in different areas, to facilitate STPA application to different systems and to be easily extended to include different requirements and features. Moreover, XSTAMPP has the potential to be extended in the future to support the application of CAST for accident analysis. We believe that XSTAMPP is a useful first step toward establishing a base platform to support the application of STAMP methodologies in different domains.