Systems safety in world-wide distributed scientific infrastructure projects

The international environment of the astronomical research and the world wide distribution of astronomical institutes and observatories create a high demand of flexibility from the designers and engineers developing and building the scientific instruments for use in astronomical research programs. In particular, with respect to the safety performance characteristics of the scientific instruments, a harmonization process among the various safety requirements could lead to more safety awareness and understanding of these requirements. Additionally, some kind of standardization in the methods and means used during the acquisition of the instruments would reduce safety risks to an acceptable level