Failure Mode, Effect and Critical Analysis

According to John Moubray (1991), "A failure mode has security consequences if it possesses loss of function are other damage which could lead to the breach of any known environmental standard or regulation or which could hurt or ill someone or is hazardous for usage in anyway".

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis in short form known as FMEA, is later developed as Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis, in short known as FMECA. The objective of an FMECA is to identify all failure modes in a system design. Its cause is to recognize all catastrophic & critical failure probabilities so they can be minimized as early as possible. Thus, the FMECA must be started as soon as preliminary design information is available and extended as more information becomes available in suspected problem Areas. FMEA and FMECA are methodologies designed to identify potential failure modes for a product or process, to assess the risk linked with those failure modes, to rank the issues in terms of significance and to identify and carry out corrective actions to address the most serious concerns.

Although the purpose, terminology and other details can vary according to type (e.g. Process FMEA, Design FMEA, etc.), the fundamental methodology is similar for all. Brief general overview of FMEA/FMECA analysis, techniques and requirements are presented here.