Assessments and Investigations
The NASA Safety Center (NSC) manages the agency’s Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) assessments, audits and investigations. The NSC provides collaborative, risk-based SMA assessments and investigations that promote mission success. It supports all SMA disciplines and addresses programs, projects and other agency needs and requests to help customers identify, assess and mitigate issues, concerns and risks.
SMA Assessments
The NSC’s SMA assessment process focuses on a philosophy of helpfulness and providing value to the agency to promote mission success. The objective of SMA assessments is to validate that the quality and safety processes for NASA centers, programs and projects are adequate, effective and meet requirements.
Institutional Safety Program Audits
Institutional Safety Program Audits (ISPAs) provide a baseline for understanding the performance of a NASA center’s safety program. An ISPA is an independent and constructive evaluation of the effectiveness, efficiency and implementation of the center’s safety program and adherence to agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety requirements.
Mishap Investigations and Assessments
The NSC promotes the highest levels of safety and reliability by facilitating the mishap investigation process. Investigations allow NASA to understand the root cause of incidents and make adjustments to prevent recurrence.