Design for Minimum Risk

Design for Minimum Risk (DFMR) is a term used by NASA programs as an expansion of the general hazard reduction process where if an identified hazard cannot be eliminated, the design is modified to reduce the associated mishap risk to an acceptable level. DFMR is a set of specific requirements to minimize risk. DFMR is not well understood and there are many misconceptions concerning the meaning and use. This paper will provide insight into the use of DFMR for space applications; it s comparison to other hazard mitigation strategies and examples of how the approach has been used in the past. It will also highlight documents used by NASA on various programs to determine DFMR.