Managing Safety Risk in a System of Systems  Section 2  11 2.1_SMSM_201607  Originally published July 2016  Uncontrolled copy when downloaded  Audits and assessments may be scheduled or unscheduled formal reviews, examinations, or  verifications of activities, controls, ATO operations, and ATO systems. The scope of safety  audit and assessment activities can vary. An audit or assessment can either focus on a single  procedure or piece of NAS equipment, or it can broadly examine multiple elements of a system.  Audits and assessments verify suspected positive and negative safety trends identified through  analysis. In the event that a safety hazard is identified through an audit and/or assessment,  SRM is used to identify potential and/or known risk reduction methods. In this sense, Safety  Assurance and SRM complement each other by providing a continuous loop of hazard  identification and risk reduction methods.  To continuously improve the safety of its NAS equipment, operations, and procedures, the ATO  conducts audits and assessments to determine whether the NAS is performing as expected. ATO employees also use audit and assessment techniques to test, validate, and verify safety  data obtained and produced by the various entities and organizations in the NAS. Furthermore,  ATO audits and assessments identify causes and correlations that can improve the  understanding of safety performance.  SRM alone does not assure the safety of the services the ATO provides; equally important are  the efforts performed under the umbrella of Safety Assurance. Safety Assurance builds on  SRM efforts by collecting and assessing data to monitor compliance, assess the performance of  safety measures, and identify safety trends. The Safety Assurance component of the Safety  Management System (SMS) encompasses all of the ATO processes and programs that survey  the NAS. These processes and programs can lead to the discovery of previously unidentified  existing hazards and/or risk controls that are outdated or no longer effective. Safety Assurance  provides the means to determine whether NAS equipment, operations, and procedures—and  changes to them—meet or exceed acceptable safety levels.  Refer to  Section 3 for further guidance and the process for using SRM to perform a safety  analysis.  It is necessary to make the approach to managing safety risk into a formalized, objective  process. This helps ensure the effective management and reduction of a safety hazard’s risks. SRM provides a means to:  struck and severity if he or she is), and explores ways to reduce the perceived risk (looking both  ways for traffic and/or heeding pedestrian signals) to an acceptable level before proceeding.  • Create a plan that an organization can use to determine if expected risk levels are met and maintained. • Identify safety performance targets, the measurable goals used to verify the predicted residual risk of a hazard; and • Define safety requirements to reduce risk to an acceptable level; • Identify potential hazards and analyze and assess safety risk in ATO operations and NAS equipment; 2.1.4.1  Audits and Assessments  2.1.4  Safety Assurance: Identifying and Closing Safety Gaps 