Safety Case Development with SBVR-Based Controlled Language

Safety case development is highly recommended by some safety standards to justify the safety of a system. The Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) is a popular approach to construct a safety case. However, the content of the safety case elements, such as safety claims, is in natural language. Therefore, a common understanding of the meaning of a safety claim may be difficult to reach. Consequently, the confidence of a safety claim can be misplaced. In this paper, we propose to use an SBVR-based controlled language to support safety case development. By using the controlled language, the ambiguities caused by natural language can be mitigated. Furthermore, an SBVR editor for building a vocabulary and a GSN editor with vocabulary support are developed. Finally, a case study has been carried out to show the benefits of using the controlled language for safety case construction.