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Design

Design for safety

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.

Updated February 2023

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