Operations safety risk management: Managing integration and test safety risk

The risk of damage to project hardware during assembly, integration, and test activities prior to a project's "operational" phase is significant. Traditional Test Readiness Reviews are rarely sufficiently detailed or appropriately structured to ensure that all aspects of a pending activity are adequately addressed. A flexible, structured process that brings together appropriate disciplines to assess an impending activity has been developed by systems safety and has been repeatedly shown to be value added. Systems safety is an intimate member of the overall risk management team, but is often perceived as overburdening projects with a plethora of rigid and highly specialized analyses. Systems safety can and should contribute principles and processes that have flexibility and adaptability to be effective. The survey process described here does all of this. It is a major tool in the overall risk management arsenal. Systems safety principles utilized in the survey process are also described.