Section 19 of 105
18. Engineering Accountability and Assigned Authority
Stable section ID: S05-CON-014-SECTION-19 · 22 content blocks
Every safety-, compatibility-, configuration-, or conformance-critical decision shall have an identifiable responsible authority.
Controlled activities shall distinguish the authority to:
- Propose.
- Design.
- Analyze.
- Review.
- Approve.
- Execute.
- Inspect.
- Verify.
- Certify.
- Record.
- Suspend.
- Restore.
- Grant deviation.
- Interpret.
- Hear appeal.
Delegation shall be documented. Delegating work shall not automatically remove legal, professional, contractual, or constitutional accountability from the delegating authority.
AI systems, software, sensors, Digital Twins, Engineering Compilers, and robots may perform authorized functions, but they shall not hold human or organizational accountability. Responsibility shall remain assigned to an authorized person or organization under the phased-autonomy framework.
Conflicts of interest shall be identified where one organization designs, manufactures, verifies, certifies, or reports the same asset.
Emergency authority shall define who may isolate systems, restrict occupancy, suspend a certificate, authorize temporary stabilization, or place a system in safe mode.
Accountability shall support prevention, correction, learning, and traceable decision-making rather than serve only as a mechanism for assigning blame after failure.