This Standard establishes requirements for hazard analysis and safety classification to be applied to Defence Systems. Safety in this context is concerned with the potential to endanger human life. The aim of the Standard is to:

(a) establish whether a system can cause accidents;

(b) establish whether the risk from the system is tolerable; .

(c) identify and track safety critical components within a system.

The requirements of this Standard apply to all phases in the project life cycle, from initiation to disposal, and to systems developed in the UK, procured from abroad, or procured off-the-shelf.

Appropriate methods and techniques for reducing the risks from the system to a tolerable level are the subject of other documents, and as such are not addressed by this Standard. Nor does it address the verification and validation of the system, which is part of the system development process.