The Present-State Safety Manual: A Governance Framework for Evidencing Safety at the Moment of Reliance

This report defines a governance and evidentiary framework for evaluating safety-critical systems at the moment they are relied upon. Traditional safety assurance mechanisms demonstrate compliance, inspection, and maintenance but do not necessarily establish the operational condition of a system at the time protection is required. The manual introduces the concept of present-state safety, clarifies duty-holder responsibility in reliance decisions, and provides a neutral failure test based on the existence of contemporaneous evidence. The framework does not replace regulatory standards or engineering practice but addresses the evidentiary gap between historical assurance and demonstrable safety at the time of reliance.