Minimal

---
name: review-checklist
description: Use when verifying that a process follows all required steps before completion or handoff.
source: FAA Aviation Safety Checklists, WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (Haynes et al., NEJM 2009)
tags: [quality-assurance, checklist, process, error-reduction]
---

# Review Checklist

Systematically verify every required step before signing off on a process.

## Why This Is Best Practice

**Adopted by:** Aviation (FAA mandatory pre-flight checklists), surgery (WHO Surgical
Safety Checklist adopted by 4,000+ hospitals), NASA Mission Control, nuclear power
(NRC operating procedures), and all industries where step omission causes irreversible
failure.
**Impact:** WHO Surgical Safety Checklist reduced surgical complications by 36% and deaths
by 47% across 8 hospitals in 8 countries (Haynes et al., NEJM 2009, n=3,733 patients).
Aviation accident rates dropped from 40+ fatal accidents per million flights (1950s) to
under 0.2 by 2000 — checklists identified as primary contributor (NTSB longitudinal data).
**Why best:** Human memory under time pressure is unreliable. External checklists eliminate
recall failures — the root cause of ~70% of aviation accidents before adoption. No
alternative (experience, expertise, vigilance) achieves the same error-reduction rate.

Sources: WHO Surgical Safety Checklist 2009, FAA Advisory Circular AC 120-21, NTSB

## Steps

1. List every required step in sequence before beginning the process.
2. Check each step immediately after performing it — not from memory after the fact.
3. If a step fails or cannot be confirmed, halt and resolve before proceeding.
4. Have a second person verify critical steps independently (two-person rule).
5. Record the completed checklist: who verified, when, and any deviations noted.

## Rules

- Never check off a step not yet performed — even under time pressure.
- Keep checklists short enough to complete in under 5 minutes; split longer processes.
- Review the checklist itself annually to ensure steps reflect current practice.
- Do not let familiarity breed complacency — treat each checklist as a live document.

## Common Mistakes

- Checking off steps from memory after completing a block — defeats the purpose.
- Using the checklist only for documentation, not as a real-time verification tool.
- Adding too many items until it becomes noise rather than a gate.
- Skipping the checklist when "everything is obviously fine" — the process assumes fallibility.

## When NOT to Use

- When the process has a single step with no sequencing dependencies and no meaningful failure modes.
- When operating in a free-form creative exploration phase where rigid sequencing inhibits discovery.
- When the checklist itself has not been validated against the actual process it covers.