Mechanism MEC-16

Intervention specification

Replace the human-in-the-loop checkbox with a specification of who intervenes, what they can see, what they can prevent or alter, and what happens when they disagree.

Safeguards and terms

  1. 1 Evidence
  2. 2 Authority
  3. 3 Decision acts here
  4. 4 Consequence
  5. 5 Challenge
  6. 6 Reconsideration
  7. 7 Correction

Where it acts

At Decision, one of the seven stages every consequential decision passes through. It names who can see, prevent, or alter a decision while it is being made, and what happens when they disagree.

Serves

Terms used

Steps

Put the mechanism in motion

3 steps, in order. Check each one off as it is done; the records below show the work was done.

Records this mechanism keeps

What a team running this mechanism keeps, and what each record is for.

Intervention specification template

Owner, information, preventable actions, alterable states, disagreement path, incentives, cost, and reach time.

Reach-time measurement

Observed time between the trigger and the intervener being in a position to act.

Disagreement log

Cases where the intervener disagreed, what route it took, and what changed.

Reuse-ready snippets

Copy policy, audit, and incident language

Use these snippets in requirements, audits, and postmortems with the mechanism permalink.

Policy requirement

Policy requirement (MEC-16 Intervention specification)
- Any control described as human oversight is documented as an intervention specification with owner, information available, actions preventable, states alterable, and on-disagreement path.
- The specification records the incentives, the cost of intervening, and the time to reach the decision.
Reference: https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/intervention-specification

Product requirement

Product requirement (MEC-16)
- The interface presents the intervener with the information the specification names, before the action commits.
- Disagreement is a recorded outcome with a route, not an unlogged override.

Audit evidence checklist

Audit evidence checklist (MEC-16)
[ ] Every claimed oversight control has a current intervention specification.
[ ] Reach time and cost of intervening are measured, not asserted.
[ ] Disagreement outcomes are logged with what changed as a result.

Postmortem trigger

Postmortem trigger (MEC-16)
Trigger review when a decision described as human-reviewed proceeded without the reviewer being able to alter it.

Example usage

Specifying review on an automated suspension

One scenario with each part of the mechanism in place.

How it plays out

A trust and safety team documents that the on-call reviewer sees the evidence and the account history, can prevent suspension for 30 minutes, can reverse it for 14 days, and that disagreement routes to a policy owner within one business day.

Anti-patterns

Common failure cases and counterfactuals

Each case passes on paper and fails in operation. The counterfactual shows what would have worked.

Rubber-stamp review

A human approves in bulk without the information or the time to alter the outcome, and the approval is counted as oversight.

Counterfactual: The specification states what the reviewer sees, what they can change, and how long they have.

Exception: High approval rates are not proof of rubber-stamping; the test is whether refusal was possible and reachable.

Oversight named but not scoped

Policy says a human is in the loop without saying which decisions, which states, or which disagreement path.

Counterfactual: Each oversight claim resolves to a specification covering named decisions.

Exception: One specification can cover a class of decisions if the class is stated.

Diagnostics for this mechanism

Tools that size the risk this mechanism addresses.

Diagnostic

Delegation audit

Walks a team through one workflow against six questions and returns an exposure score, the permissions nobody can justify, and whether its decisions can be undone. Start here when the system keeps no decision records yet; use the record conformance checker once it does.

Cite this page · v1.2.1 · updated Oct 6, 2026 · CC BY-SA 4.0

APA

Ethotechnics Institute. (2026). Intervention specification (MEC-16). Ethotechnics Institute. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/intervention-specification

MLA

Ethotechnics Institute. "Intervention specification (MEC-16)." Ethotechnics Institute, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/intervention-specification.

Chicago

Ethotechnics Institute. "Intervention specification (MEC-16)." Ethotechnics Institute. Oct 6, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/intervention-specification.

BibTeX

@misc{mechanism_intervention-specification,
  title={Intervention specification (MEC-16)},
  author={Ethotechnics Institute},
  year={2026},
  howpublished={Ethotechnics Institute},
  url={https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/intervention-specification},
  version={v1.2.1}
}

RIS

TY  - WEB
TI  - Intervention specification (MEC-16)
AU  - Ethotechnics Institute
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/intervention-specification
ER  -

Authorship

Contact: hello@ethotechnics.org

Publication details

  • Published: Dec 3, 2025
  • Last updated: Oct 6, 2026
  • Version: v1.2.1

License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Credit Ethotechnics Institute, include the page title and version, and link to the canonical permalink.

Archive: Wayback Machine history

Latest change

v1.2.1 · Oct 6, 2026 — Rewrote the copy of MEC-01 to MEC-12 in plain sentences. A halt is described as containment while the rule is fixed and people are restored, upheld appeals are counted against the rule in MEC-06 and MEC-08, and MEC-04 is renamed Hard clock.

Earlier versions (3)
  • v1.2.0 · Oct 1, 2026 — Filed every mechanism under the six safeguards, led the starters and role paths with challenges that reach the rule, and added that obligation to MEC-06.
  • v1.1.0 · Jan 9, 2026 — Added citation metadata, mechanisms-level authorship details, and structured usage guidance.
  • v1.0.0 · Dec 3, 2025 — Initial public mechanisms release.