Design for safety
Contents
Good design keeps people safe. Make sure your service or product is reliable and easy to understand in stressful or demanding situations.
Consider safety from the start
The Ministry of Defence has to provide safe equipment, systems and services.
To create safe services, you need to:
- understand the environments your users are in
- check how service failures might impact users
- address any safety concerns
Test in real or simulated environments
You should test your service or product with real users in the place that they use it. In Defence, this is not always possible.
You can also test in:
- a lab simulating the real environment
- a similar environment, such as a training ground
Talk to people in similar environments
Working with people who have experience in similar environments can help. They can:
- use their experience to identify safety issues
- describe their environment and any restrictions
Make it easy to report issues
Defence users need to report safety issues as soon as possible. Acting on feedback quickly keeps people safe.
For example: a soldier needs to use your service in an area with low lighting. It is difficult to read. This poses a risk to their safety.
Check your feedback process
Check what restrictions users have to reporting safety concerns. You need to design for their circumstances.
For example Defence users might need:
- permission from their commanding officer
- a process that works in their environment
Prioritise feedback based on risk
When you get feedback, make sure high risk problems and safety issues are easy to identify. This will help you respond to them quickly.
Report security issues in Defence services
If you notice a security vulnerability on any Ministry of Defence service or system, you need to report it.
Check how to report a security vulnerability (opens in a new tab).
Updated February 2023