Safety Lab Aero ← Back to safetylabaero.com

What an integrated safety workspace is actually worth

Not a hand-waved percentage. This model is built bottom-up from every ARP 4761A deliverable — AFHA, PASA, SFHA, PSSA, SSA, ASA, the common-cause analyses (ZSA / PRA / CMA) and FMEA — scaled by how many systems you run and how much your design churns toward freeze. The full calculation is shown below the result.

Your program

1.0 = a reference system; sub-1 for small systems (e.g. lighting), >1 for complex (e.g. flight control).
Full effort ÷ first-draft. Captures the revision / re-analysis cycles to design freeze — the bulk of real cost.
≈ $229K/yr loaded. US aerospace-engineer avg ~$114K base + ~1.4× overhead.

Program impact

Full-program baseline effort
Blended reduction
Engineer-hours saved
≈ Person-years saved
Engineering-effort savings
Rework avoided (3 late findings)
Total value per program
program value vs. one year of subscription

How it's calculated

The savings are built up from every ARP 4761A phase at your inputs — aircraft-level and CCA costed once, system-level phases scaled by systems × complexity, all multiplied by the iteration factor. This breakdown updates live:

ARP 4761A phaseScopeFirst-draft hrsBaseline hrsReductionHours saved
System-units= systems × average complexity (so small systems count for less).
Baseline hrs / phase= first-draft hrs × units × iteration factor  (units = 1 for once-per-aircraft & CCA phases).
Hours saved / phase= baseline hrs × reduction %.
Effort savings= Σ hours saved × loaded rate; person-years = hours ÷ 2,080.
Rework avoided= late findings caught at authoring × hours each × rate (10–30× cheaper than at cert review).
Total value= effort savings + rework avoided.
Deliberately conservative: the same reduction is applied to the full iteration-inflated baseline, even though re-iteration is cheaper still (instant re-quantification + golden-thread auto-propagation). Quantification phases (PASA / PSSA / SSA / ASA) carry the highest reductions because the deterministic engine does the cut sets, exact P(top) and DAL allocation — work a draft-only tool can't do at all.

Where the savings come from

The iteration loop, not just first drafts

Safety assessment is iterative — every design change re-touches FHA, fault trees, CCA and traceability. The golden thread re-propagates and the engine re-quantifies instantly, so the expensive part gets cheap.

One connected model

Functions, hazards, fault trees, FMEA, common-cause, requirements and verification share one data model — nothing is re-entered and nothing drifts.

Deterministic quantification

Minimal cut sets, BDD-exact P(top) and DAL allocation are computed, not drafted — the phases (PASA/PSSA/SSA/ASA) where manual effort and error risk are highest.

Automatic traceability

The trace web — function → FHA → fault tree → requirement → verification — is built and maintained for you, so change-impact is near-instant.

Fewer errors, less rework

A defect caught in-tool costs minutes; the same one caught in cert review costs weeks (the 1 : 10 : 100 rule).

Cert-ready output

Signature-ready FHA/PSSA/SSA and a DO-330 dossier in editable Word and PDF — assembled from the model, not hand-built.

Prove it on your program

A 90-day paid pilot on your real analysis, measuring the hours recovered against this model. Replace every input with your own numbers — the calculation is open for you to check, line by line.

Start a pilot →

Illustrative model — figures depend on your system count, complexity, design churn, loaded rates and program. Defaults are intentionally conservative; per-phase first-draft hours and reductions follow the published Safety Lab Aero ROI model. Replace every input with your own numbers. Not a guarantee of results. © 2026 Safety Lab Aero, Inc. · safetylabaero.com · waqas.nafees@safetylabaero.com