The ubiquitous computer is the electronic component of choice for systemdevelopers, who increasingly exploit computing's power in safety-critical applications such as steer-by-wire automotive systems and powered prosthetics.

However, these computer-based systems raise the ongoing concern that they might fail and cause harm. Exploring the systematic design of safety-critical computer systems helps to show how engineers canverify that these designs will be safe. Achieving risk reduction requires dealing with all the system?s components: hardware and software, sensors, effectors, the operator, and the primary source of harmfulenergy or toxicity—the application.