The Nimrod Review - Official Documents

Chapter 10B – Nimrod Safety Case: The Facts (Third Phase)
CHAPTER 10B – NIMROD SAFETY CASE: THE FACTS
(THIRD PHASE)
Contents
Chapter 10B deals with the Third Phase of the Nimrod Safety Case.
Summary
1. Chapter 10B continues the chronological story and deals with the Third Phase of the preparation
of the Nimrod Safety Case by the Nimrod IPT (September 2004 to March 2005). (Chapter 10A deals
with Phases 1 and 2 of the Nimrod Safety Case carried out by BAE Systems.)
2. Chapter 10B explains events after the Customer Acceptance Conference (see Chapter 10A) and the
handover of the six Nimrod Safety Case ‘deliverable’ reports by BAE System to the Nimrod IPT on 21
September 2004.
3. BAE Systems’ work on the Nimrod Safety Case was formally signed-off by the Nimrod IPT in
November/December 2004. This ‘sign-off’ was supported by QinetiQ.
4. Following the Nimrod IPT’s appreciation that 43 out of 105 hazards had been left “Open” by BAE
Systems, it subsequently proceeded to sentence the remaining hazards itself.
5. Ironically, the fact that Hazard H73 was one of the 43 hazards left “Open” by BAE Systems, meant
that the Nimrod IPT had a second chance to capture the serious fire risks inherent in the Cross-Feed/
Supplementary Conditioning Pack duct.
6. Unfortunately, the Nimrod IPT did not grasp this opportunity: it proceeded to sentence the remaining
hazards (including Hazard H73) on a manifestly inadequate, incorrect and unsatisfactory basis.
7. The Nimrod IPT declared the Nimrod Safety Case completed in March 2005. 1
1 See Frank Walsh’s e-mail to BAE Systems of 16 March 2005.
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