  We derive a uniform bound for the difference of two contractive semigroups,
if the difference of their generators is form-bounded by the Hermitian parts of
the generators themselves. We construct a semigroup dynamics for second order
systems with fairly general operator coefficients and apply our bound to the
perturbation of the damping term. The result is illustrated on a dissipative
wave equation. As a consequence the exponential decay of some second order
systems is proved.
