Where does safety collide?

In safety science and human-factors research, safety is the condition of being adequately protected from harm, studied as a property of whole sociotechnical systems rather than only of individual carelessness. Reason's Human error distinguished active errors from latent organisational conditions, shifting attention to how a system's defences fail. The referent is freedom from harm as a system property, not a defensive pool stroke or a drug's risk profile.[1]

Unit

The level of protection from harm, or the likelihood of accidents and errors, in a system

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Assessed through error and accident rates, hazard analysis, and the integrity of a system's defences and barriers

In pharmacology and pharmacovigilance, safety refers to a drug's profile of harms, its adverse drug reactions, weighed against its benefits and monitored across development and clinical use. Edwards and Aronson's 2000 Adverse drug reactions: Definitions, diagnosis, and management set out how such reactions are defined, classified, and managed. The referent is a medicine's harm profile, unrelated to a pool shot or system-level safety.[2]

Unit

The incidence and severity of a drug's adverse reactions relative to its benefit

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Tracked through adverse-event reporting, classification of reactions, and risk–benefit assessment