Safety information cognition: A new methodology of safety science in urgent need to be established

In order to explain safety and environment protection from the aspects of information cognition, it is imperative to establish new safety theory by exploring accident and environmental pollution mechanism from the upstream level. In recent years, safety-related information or cognition studies have become new extension point in safety science. The researchers did not make any breakthroughs in the mechanism analysis of safety information science, because the essential process is not understood by researchers. Obviously, establishing safety information science is irreversible and critical. Therefore, it is theoretically and practically significant to establish and discuss the foundation of safety information science. Firstly, the safety systems should follow three levels: scale decomposition, dimension decomposition and research field. Then, from the perspective of spatial order, a systematic cognitive sequence of safety information and a Five Areas Four Belts spatial order model were established. Thirdly, the meaning and basic connotation of safety information are clarified. In addition, from the view of the combination between safety information dissemination and behavior cognition, the Safety Information Cognition model is constructed according to the general model of safety information cognition and Principle of system decomposition. Besides, the accident mechanism of 5-layers distortion and 4-times delay, as well as the general procedures of injury accidents were proposed. Finally, the worth of safety science model research for the future development was summarized. This paper contains a series of achievements, including system decomposition method, safety information cognition process and the cause mechanism and prevention strategies of accidents or pollution information. The conclusion shows that the information communication theory, the cognitive model and the safety information law can deepen the understanding of the safety and environment system and provide new ways for the further study of the safety and cleaner production. It can also further consolidate the essential principles of safety and environmental system and supply new preventions of accident and pollution, for example, the controls and elimination of harmful factors, Identification and analyze safety information science of dangerous and harmful factors, risk evaluation, prevention, monitoring and early warning measures et al. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.