Citation

Vernez D, Buchs D, Pierrehumbert G. Safety Sci. 2003; 41(5): 445-463.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper will discuss the current uses and application perspectives of Petri Nets (PNs) in the fields of risk analysis and accident modelling. Severe time and combinatory limitations are encountered when trying to model complex events sequences with classical methods. Due to their large calculation capabilities and the development of recent tools, the PNs should be able to overcome these limitations. We will first review and briefly discuss the previous applications of PNs in the field of safety. The second aim of this paper is also to highlight the tool's capabilities through a "translation" catalogue in which common concepts in safety are expressed in the PNs formalism. Despite these promising examples and properties, safety oriented applications in the field of safety are still scarce. The lack of comprehensive tools available and PN inherent complexity may explain this situation. We can hope that the increasing attractiveness of PNs may somehow overcome these difficulties. As a matter of fact, due to the tool continuous development (i.e. recent stochastic reward net or object-oriented nets development), PNs may play a significant role in risk analysis or accident modelling in the future.