Purpose and scope of the recommendation

The purpose of this recommendation is to provide customers and their suppliers with a document specifying the notions of "construction" and "management" of product dependability and safety (RAMS).

It offers programme directors and project managers information likely to help them:

— determine the tasks to be performed and the application procedures, according to the specific nature of the programme and its goals;

— define and implement the provisions necessary for performing these tasks;

— within programme execution, situate the various tasks involved in constructing and managing the RAMS of a product.

This recommendation applies to all programmes that involve customer/supplier relation.

RAMS management concerns not only all the products covered by these programmes, but also the components of these products and the production and support resources and processes to be implemented.

The provisions of this recommendation may be negotiated at all levels between the parties directly concerned by a given programme. This implies, on the part of the ordering parties, that each lower level is provided with the information needed to perform the tasks and meet the specified targets. This also implies, on the part of suppliers, an escalation of information pertaining to the RAMS results of the products for which they are responsible.

This recommendation is mainly concerned with the technical aspects, aspects of a legislative (in particular safety at work and regulatory conformity) and confidential nature are not dealt with in this recommendation.