The Nimrod Review - Official Documents

CHAPTER 9 – BACKGROUND TO SAFETY CASES
Contents
Chapter 9 answers the following questions:
Summary
What was the origin of ‘Safety Cases’ and their history and development?
When and how were they adopted by the RAF?
What are the military regulations regarding ‘Safety Cases’?
What, if any, guidance was available regarding their production?
Chapter 9 – Background to Safety Cases
What procedures did the Nimrod Integrated Project Team have in place in relation to ‘Safety Cases’?
1. The origins of ‘Safety Cases’ can be found in the 1984 CIMAH Regulations, 1 implementing the 1982
EC Directive on major industrial accidents. 2 Lord Cullen in the Piper Alpha Report in 1988 highlighted
the importance of Safety Cases in the oil and gas industry and required their application to offshore
(as well as on-shore) installations.
2. Safety Cases were first discussed in a military context in the Man S (Org) Study in 1994 3 . Safety
Cases were, however, not formally adopted as a military platform requirement until the 4 th Edition
of Joint Service Publication (JSP) 318B in September 2002.
3. The requirements for Safety Cases for military platforms, including aircraft, are laid down in JSP553
(formerly JSP318B), Defence Standard (Def-Stan) 00-56 and Business Procedure (BP) 1201.
4. A Safety Case itself is defined as “a structured argument, supported by a body of evidence, that
provides a compelling, comprehensible and valid case that a system is safe for a given application
in a given environment”. 4
5. The basic aims, purpose and underlying philosophy of Safety Cases were clearly defined, but there
was limited practical guidance as to how, in fact, to go about constructing a Safety Case.
6. The Nimrod Integrated Project Team’s Safety Management Plan contained detailed procedures for
the preparation and maintenance of a Safety Case. It is regrettable that these procedures were
not followed in relation to the preparation of the Nimrod Safety Case, and the sentencing of risks,
during the period 2001-2005. 5678
1 Control of Industrial Major Accidents Hazards Regulations 1984 (CIMAH Regulations).
2 European Commission Directive 82/501/EEC “on the major-accident hazards of certain industrial activities”, issued in 1982 (known as the
‘Seveso Directive’).
3 Management Services (Organisation) Division Study No. 773: Equipment Safety Assurance dated March 1994.
4 Def-Stan 00-56, paragraph 9.1.
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