A Safety Analysis Method Using Fault Tree Analysis and Petri Nets

In this paper, we describe a safety analysis method that utilizes two models, namely, Petri nets to model the behavioral aspects of a system, and fault tree analysis to model failure and hence unacceptable behaviors of a system. Using petri nets and fault tree analysis, we should be able to perform both forward and backward reachability analyses that are related to acceptable and unacceptable behaviors of a system. To show the feasibility of our proposed method, a case study, railroad crossing system, has been conducted.