Failure analysis flow chart

Figure 13 Flow chart for a quantitative assay using an internal standard. The most critical steps are the selection of a representative sample, the accurate preparation of the standards, and finally the addition of the standard to the sample -planning, weighing, making up to volume, and pipetting. It is sobering to remember that failure in any one of these will invalidate the entire assay no matter how sophisticated the instrumentation or how powerful the statistics applied to data analysis.

Immediate outcome—the adverse state the system reached immediately after the active failure. Examples are release of agent, plant damage, or personal injury. Reporting and investigation flow charts supplied by the Army indicate that the severity of outcome often determines the incident s prominence for managers, the workforce, or the community, which in turn drives subsequent responses. Incidents with more salient outcomes naturally receive more scrutiny, which may bias the data set used for analysis. 

The proposed method is suitable for acquiring knowledge for the development of an expert system applied in the diagnosis of deviations in the process including operational failures in order to search for the components which fail can cause these deviations. It is emphasized the importance of following the proposed flow chart that shows the sequence of activities that allows to make detailed and reliable analysis, because they are used and organized in a logical order, so that the method is applied correctly. 

The extended flow chart for an FMVEA in Figure 5, includes security in the analysis. As described in [1] there are different ways in which security or safety properties of a system can influence security or safety risks. Therefore, while the consideration of failure or threat modes of an item is split, the analysis of effects and causes combines both viewpoints. 

The energy flow and barrier analysis (ETBA) technique described in Chapter 13 evolved from this part of the MORT chart, and the mini-MORT chart was developed from this configuration. This version of the chart had a block (not shown) under the incident branch that indicated that in cases of multiple energy flows the analysis process should be repeated for each energy flow and barrier failure that led up to the accident (Fig. 18-9). 

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