The Safety-Critical Systems Club formally commenced operation on 1 May 1991 as the result of a contract placed by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and what is now the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This followed a report to the UK Parliamentary and Scientific Committee on the science of safety-critical systems which led to the 'SafeIT' programme and the formation of the Club. They let a three-year contract for organising and running the Safety-Critical Systems Club to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the British Computer Society, and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, the last of these to implement the organisation. The SCSC became self-sufficient in 1994, based at Newcastle University through the Centre for Software Reliability. Activities included detailed technical work, such as planning and organising events and editing the SCSC newsletter and other publications. From the start, the UK Health and Safety Executive was an active supporter of the Club, and, along with all the other organisations already mentioned, remains so. It was intended that the Club should include in its ambit both technical and managerial personnel, and that it should facilitate communication among all sections of the safety-critical systems community. At the time of the Club's inception, a DTI-EPSRC safety-critical systems research programme was being put in place. The inaugural seminar, intended to introduce the Club to the safety-critical systems community, took place at UMIST, Manchester, on 11 July 1991 and attracted 256 delegates. The need for such an organisation was perceived by many in the software-engineering and safety-critical systems communities. The SCSC is now run by the University of York from 2016.
Events
It was planned at the start to meet the Club's objectives by holding regular one- and two- day seminars, publishing a newsletter three times per year, and running an annual conference – the Safety-critical Systems Symposium. In performing these functions, and in adding tutorials to its programme, the Club has been instrumental in helping to define the requirements for education and training in the safety-critical systems domain. The Club publishes proceedings for the SSS.
