What opens the valve
Set the thresholds that open it, such as a jump in uncertainty, a growing queue, or an anomaly, and name the human fallback it routes to.
What is a safety valve?
A safety valve routes cases to a logged fallback path, often human review, when automation is overloaded, uncertain, or error-prone.
A safety valve sends cases to a fallback when a system is overloaded, unsure, or making errors. The fallback is often a person. It stops harmful automation from running on unchecked.
During an exception the fallback is visible and logged, so each case routed through it still has an owner and a record.
A hypothetical case. During a surge in appeals, the system sends high-risk cases to a human review queue instead of denying them automatically to meet deadlines.
In the glossary: Safety valve.
Mechanism, drawn
Where the valve sends a case
A case goes to the automated decision until a threshold trips. Then the valve opens without waiting for approval, and the case goes to a fallback that logs it under a named owner. Each opening is also counted against the rule that produced the case, and a rule that keeps opening the valve goes to its owner.
In practice
What to look for
No wait for approval
A valve that waits for an executive's approval opens too late. Open it automatically, and log anyone who switches a safeguard off.
Cases the valve changed
Report how often it opens, how long fallback cases take, and the cases where the fallback changed the outcome.
Where the standards use it:
- Ethotechnics for agents. Design safety valves that meet the standard's escalation and human override requirements.
- STD-01 evidence pack. Keep fallback decisions and escalations, with their deadlines, for review.
Is a safety valve the same as an exception?
No. An exception is a label for a kind of case. A safety valve is the fallback that keeps people safe when such a case occurs.
What if the valve keeps opening?
If it opens often under one rule, the rule is producing cases it cannot decide. The count goes to the rule's owner, who changes the rule or records why not.