A General Methodology for Establishing Optimal Inspection Policy in a Complex System

Abstract

This paper develops a general methodology for evaluating inspection (mainly, safety inspection) policies, standard and regulations in a complex system with lots of components. Based on practically available data, this methodology enable planners and regulators to estimate the costs and effectiveness of different inspection policies when applied under different system working conditions. As main tools, the concepts of detection probability and earliness of detection are developed in this paper.