scope:

Purpose

a. This NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) provides requirements to report, investigate, and document mishaps, close calls, and resulting corrective actions to prevent occurrence of similar work-related injury, property damage, or mission failure. This NPR does not apply to investigative procedures concerning civil, criminal, or administrative culpability or legal liability. The investigation and resulting products outlined in this NPR will not be used to direct or justify disciplinary action. The NPR describes how NASA complies with the incident investigation and corrective action requirements of the Basic Program Elements for Federal Employee Occupational Safety and Health Programs and Related Matters, 29 CFR pt. 1960.

b. This NPR provides requirements that specify how to prepare for the possibility of and respond to mishaps and close calls from discovery through corrective action and closure. It contains requirements for classifying mishaps, establishing investigating authorities, and performing investigations. It formalizes notification, analysis, and reporting obligations; describes roles and responsibilities; provides an overview of release of information to the public; and specifies the relationship and interaction with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and other Government agencies.

Applicability

a. This directive is applicable to NASA Headquarters (HQ) and NASA Centers, including Component Facilities and Technical and Service Support Centers. This language applies to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (a Federally Funded Research and Development Center), other contractors, recipients of grants, cooperative agreements, or other agreements only to the extent specified or referenced in the applicable contracts, grants, or agreements.

b. In this directive, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term "shall." The terms "may" denotes a discretionary privilege or permission, "can" denotes statements of possibility or capability, "should" denotes a good practice and is recommended, but not required, "will" denotes expected outcome, and "are/is" denotes descriptive material.

c. In this directive, all citations of NASA directives are assumed to be the latest version unless otherwise noted.