Frequently Asked Questions

STAMP Institute offers individual self-paced online training as well as group training for your organization.
Certifications are available for individuals who are seeking to lead teams and teach the methods.
(See our Training and Certification Levels pages for more details)

No! STAMP Institute training is appropriate for engineers, operators, managers, or leaders. Many people without an engineering background have enjoyed our classes, including nurses, executives, financial advisors, entertainment crews, and other professionals.

There are currently three types of certification defined:

1. STPA/CAST Practitioner
2. STPA/CAST Facilitator
3. STPA/CAST Instructor

The benefits of STAMP certification include:
1. The most recognized credential verifying your qualification to apply STPA or CAST
2. Official recognition via a certificate and digital badge for use on professional presentations and profiles
3. Inclusion in the STAMP Institute database, allowing employers and peers to verify your expertise
4. Career opportunities for specialized roles in organizations that mandate or prefer STAMP-based safety and security methods

For Individuals

• The online Safety Engineering and STPA self-paced course includes 40 hours of content, including videos, reading assignments, templates, and offline exercises to complete. The core content can be completed in ~16 hours for those who are on an accelerated schedule. Enroll here
• The virtual STPA Hands-on Practicum is conducted in 2 days, predetermined by STAMP Institute, and it is four hours each day. Participants need to take the Safety Engineering and STPA self-paced course before attending the Hands-on Practicum. Join the waiting list
• The STPA Certification Project takes approximately 8 weeks to complete, and it includes instructor feedback regarding the project at regular intervals during that time. Participants need to take the Safety Engineering and STPA self-paced course before beginning the STPA Certification Project. It is also recommended, but not required, that participants attend a virtual Hands-on Practicum before beginning the STPA Certification Project. Enroll here

For Groups

The length of time for the training is determined by the custom engagement that is tailored specifically for your organization. Reach out to us at [email protected] for a 30-minute discovery call for our team to understand your organization’s needs.

For Individuals

• The online Safety Engineering and STPA self-paced course is $4,950/person. Enroll here
• The virtual STPA Hands-on Practicum is $1,300/person. Join the waiting list
• The STPA Certification Project is $4,900. Enroll here

For Groups

The price of group training is determined by the custom engagement that is tailored specifically for your organization. Reach out to us at [email protected] for a 30-minute discovery call for our team to understand your organization’s needs.

Yes, STAMP Institute offers consulting services. See our Project Support page for more information.

Certified STAMP Facilitators are listed in STAMP Institute’s Certified Facilitator database. Contact us at [email protected] to find a Facilitator in your industry.

Yes. Contact us at [email protected] to find out more about how you can obtain professional development units from STAMP Institute courses.

Yes, see our “Why Use STPA?” page.

Traditional methods focus on component failures, while STPA views safety as a feedback control problem. It recognizes that in modern, complex systems, accidents can happen even when every function/component works perfectly, but they interact in a way that wasn’t intended. See our “Why Use STPA?” page for more information.

STAMP is domain-independent. It focuses on how humans, software, and hardware interact, which is a universal challenge in modern engineering. Although popular in Aeronautics and Astronautics, over 126 industries incorporate STAMP-based approaches every day. See our Active Industry List page and our “Why Use STPA?” page for more information.

STPA ensures requirements completeness by modeling the system as a set of interacting control loops rather than a list of parts. It systematically investigates how decisions, controls, feedback, and other factors can combine in interesting ways to defeat assumptions or cause dysfunctional interactions that defeat the objectives. STPA then uses this information to develop safety constraints and requirements that are necessary to prevent the unsafe behaviors and interactions, allowing you to catch missing requirements, flawed assumptions, and other errors that traditional checklists often miss.

Please visit our “Why Use STPA?” page for more information.

STAMP Institute is an independent organization that operates separately from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While our instructors have taught at top-tier institutions like MIT, STAMP Institute operates independently to provide professional education rooted in real-world industry needs and practical applications rather than academic priorities.