review-checklist

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). Why best: Human memory under time pressure is unreliable. External checklists eliminate recall failures — the root cause of ~70% of aviation accidents before adoption.

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

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.

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.