SADI: a case study of a knowledge-based advisory system in a safety critical domain

New and proposed legislation is having a major effect on the management of health and safety within the construction industry. When carrying out and planning activities on-site, considerable expertise is required to ensure that the work is done safely, and a thorough knowledge and understanding of the relevant legislative documentation is necessary. A prototype computer system has been built to assist those responsible for safety management. As much of the knowledge about safe working is possessed by experienced engineers, a framework has been constructed which allows this expertise to be encoded as rules within a knowledge-based system. Where the actions that may be taken are constrained by legislation, rules are placed within the knowledge-base to reflect these constraints. The advise is presented to the user in its most appropriate format, textual, colour graphic images or video. A textual `Advise Notes´ document is generated during interaction with the system, which the user may print out. As the body of legislative documents form a valuable source of safety advise, these are included within the system in a hypertext viewing environment