A safety-lapse is a human-made categorization of a specific type of safety-incident in which safety controls are breached through failure, omission, or error, resulting in increased risk exposure. It is distinguished from near-misses (where no actual harm occurs) and from intentional violations: a lapse is unintentional — a gap between intended and actual safety performance that manifests as a real incident. The concept enables organizations to classify incidents by control-failure mode, identify systematic weaknesses in safety barriers, and design targeted interventions. [formal: lapsus | substrate: mind | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
safety-lapse
A safety-lapse is a human-made categorization of a specific type of safety-incident in which safety controls are breached through failure, omission, or error, resulting in increased risk exposure. It is distinguished from near-misses (wher…
Definition
Why it is in scope
The human-made concept of a breach or failure in safety controls, procedures, or vigilance — a moment when risk exposure increases due to human error, procedural deviation, or systemic weakness in the safety system.
Names and aliases
- safety-lapseen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cms9ojxxi01pj7skqgxfisvjoINSTANCE_OF →
A safety-lapse is a specific kind of safety-incident: it describes a breach or failure in safety controls where risk exposure increases. The sense is clear — a lapse is an actual incident (not a near-miss) where safety controls failed. Direction: specific (lapse) → general (incident).
- cmsa1z0mp02l87skqqqhj21wqINSTANCE_OF →
A safety-lapse (a momentary deviation from safety protocols or a slip in vigilance) is a specific kind of safety-failure. A safety-failure is any breakdown in the safety system; a lapse is one particular form of that breakdown — distinct from a safety-violation (deliberate) or safety-deficiency (structural). Law 9: specific→general.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Aug 1, 2026, 2:56 AM UTC
- Content hash
- cba00733fa305a6cec3c2314ca17c9a0787897d96c8c85abf87403e118b71dd4