Safety-by-Design and Safety Management of Emerging Energy and Industrial Systems: Methods, Models, and Applications

The transition toward sustainable and low-carbon energy systems is driving the rapid development of emerging infrastructures based, for example, on hydrogen, ammonia, and advanced biofuels. At the same time, industrial systems are becoming increasingly complex, interconnected, and data-driven. These trends introduce new safety challenges that require a systematic integration of safety into both engineering design and operational management.Traditional safety approaches, often based on compliance and ex-post risk mitigation, are no longer sufficient to address the complexity of modern industrial systems. Instead, there is a growing need for safety-by-design and intrinsically safer design (ISD) principles that enable hazard reduction at the source, combined with risk-informed engineering methods that support decision-making under uncertainty.From an industrial engineering perspective, safety can be framed as a key performance dimension of complex systems, alongside efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. This requires the development of models, methods, and tools for the specification, prediction, and evaluation of safety performance across the system lifecycle. In addition, effective safety management depends on the integration of human, organizational, and digital components, including monitoring systems, data analytics, and decision-support tools.However, the link between design choices, system behavior, and operational safety management remains fragmented, particularly in emerging energy systems and pilot-scale infrastructures. Bridging this gap is essential to ensure safe, resilient, and optimized industrial systems.This Research Topic aims to advance the integration of safety-by-design principles and safety management within the framework of industrial engineering. It seeks contributions that develop and apply models, methodologies, and tools for embedding safety into the design, optimization, and operation of complex systems, with particular attention to emerging energy infrastructures and innovative industrial processes.We welcome original research articles, reviews, and case studies addressing the role of safety in the design, analysis, and management of complex industrial systems. Contributions may focus on emerging energy infrastructures as well as broader industrial applications.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:· Safety-by-design and intrinsically safer design approaches for industrial and process systems· Modeling, analysis, and optimization of safety in complex systems· Risk-informed design and decision-making under uncertainty· Integration of safety into systems engineering and lifecycle design· Methods for the specification, prediction, and evaluation of safety performance· Safety management systems and their alignment with design assumptions· Design and management of safety barriers and protection layers· Safety challenges in pilot plants, scale-up, and demonstration systems· Digitalization for safety (e.g., digital twins, data-driven methods, AI applications)· Human and organizational factors in safety-critical systems· Applications to hydrogen, ammonia, biofuels, and other emerging industrial technologies and energy vectors.Contributions that integrate engineering design, system optimization, and safety management, and that provide transferable and industry-relevant insights, are particularly encouraged. Topic editors: Paolo Mocellin, Carlo Pirola, Federico Galli Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80809/safety-by-design-and-safety-management-of-emerging-energy-and-industrial-systems-methods-models-and-applications