{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.failure-event","code":"thing-failure-event","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/failure-event/","name":"failure","alternateNames":["downfall","ruin","ruination","flame-out","malfunction","blowout","stall","miscarriage","abortion","miss","misfire","flop"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.2.0-wave.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Activities and processes","entryKind":"noun.event","plane":"ACT","domain":["ACT.EVT"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{"substance":"activity","origin":"conceptual","agency":"inert","mobility":"not-applicable","scale":"not-applicable","affordances":["observable"]}},"whatItIs":"An event in which something does not accomplish its intended purpose, such as a machine malfunction, a structural or system failure, a business collapse or an unsuccessful attempt; in engineering, failures are analysed to find root causes and prevent recurrence.","purpose":"Let an agent analyse failures by type, cause and prevention using established methods, route dangerous failures to emergency help, and respond supportively when people feel they have failed.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Purpose not achieved","Has causes","Can be analysed","Can be prevented or mitigated"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"danger","name":"Danger","description":"Dangerous failures.","layers":[{"id":"hazard","name":"Hazard","description":"Immediate danger.","findings":[{"id":"hazard-finding","name":"Hazard","description":"Dangerous failure.","questions":[{"text":"Is the failure dangerous now, such as a gas leak, electrical fault or structural collapse?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"Should people move away and call emergency services or the utility?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"vehicle","name":"Vehicle","description":"Breakdowns.","findings":[{"id":"vehicle-finding","name":"Vehicle","description":"Vehicle failure.","questions":[{"text":"Has a vehicle failed on a road, such as a tyre blowout?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"How can the driver get to a safe place and call for help?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"analysis","name":"Analysis","description":"Understanding causes.","layers":[{"id":"rootcause","name":"Root cause","description":"Root cause analysis.","findings":[{"id":"rootcause-finding","name":"Root cause","description":"Root cause analysis.","questions":[{"text":"What was the direct cause, and what were the underlying causes?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which method, such as five whys or fault trees, fits?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"fmea","name":"FMEA","description":"Prevention.","findings":[{"id":"fmea-finding","name":"FMEA","description":"FMEA.","questions":[{"text":"Which failure modes are likely, and how severe and detectable are they?","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Which controls reduce risk?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"organisations","name":"Organisations","description":"Business failure.","layers":[{"id":"business","name":"Business","description":"Insolvency.","findings":[{"id":"business-finding","name":"Business","description":"Business failure.","questions":[{"text":"Is a business facing insolvency?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"Where can free business or insolvency advice be found?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"learning","name":"Learning","description":"Blameless reviews.","findings":[{"id":"learning-finding","name":"Learning","description":"Blameless reviews.","questions":[{"text":"How can a blameless post-incident review be run?","kind":"action"},{"text":"What should the report include?","kind":"definition"}]}]}]},{"id":"personal","name":"Personal","description":"Setbacks.","layers":[{"id":"support","name":"Support","description":"Emotional support.","findings":[{"id":"support-finding","name":"Support","description":"Emotional support.","questions":[{"text":"Is the person very distressed or at risk after a setback?","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"Which support service or crisis line should be offered?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"reframe","name":"Reframe","description":"Moving on.","findings":[{"id":"reframe-finding","name":"Reframe","description":"Moving on.","questions":[{"text":"How can the setback be reviewed constructively?","kind":"action"},{"text":"What next steps are realistic?","kind":"action"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Detect, log and report failures in systems it monitors, with time, scope and known cause.","Put a failed system into its documented safe state when authorized."],"mustNot":["Hide, delay or understate a failure from the people affected or responsible.","Restart a failed safety-critical system without checking why it failed.","Blame a named person for a failure before an investigation.","Falsify test results to avoid reporting a failure."],"requiresHuman":["Declaring a failed system safe to return to service."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Failures in infrastructure and medical devices can kill, so prompt honest reporting saves lives.","Blame cultures make people hide failures instead of learning from them."],"affectedParties":["People relying on the system","Operators and maintainers","Investigators"]},"owners":{"steward":"Nobody owns the concept; the operator of a system answers for its failures.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"oewn-07298313-n","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"event","type":"related","note":"category"},{"target":"root cause analysis","type":"related","note":"method"},{"target":"failure mode and effects analysis","type":"related","note":"method"},{"target":"malfunction","type":"related","note":"kind"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.failure-event","Open English WordNet: oewn-07332364-n"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"recognition":{"applicability":"optional","items":["Malfunctions and breakdowns","Incident reports","Planned shutdowns are not failures","Broken parts, outages, error messages, collapsed projects or unmet goals."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["classify a failure","carry out root cause analysis","apply methods such as FMEA","find support after personal or business setbacks"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Dangerous failures of gas, electrical or structural systems","Blame instead of learning","Distress after setbacks"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["IEC 60812 FMEA","Incident reporting rules in regulated sectors","Insolvency law"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Understanding and preventing things going wrong.","mechanical and structural failures","system and software failures","business failures and insolvency","personal setbacks","tyre blowouts and other sudden failures"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Open English WordNet 2024, synset oewn-07332364-n","url":"https://en-word.net/id/oewn-07332364-n","note":"sense and gloss of the concept"},{"title":"Wiktionary: failure","url":"https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/failure","note":"word senses and usage"}],"openQuestions":["Should failure types be separate entries?","How should incident databases be linked?","How should personal setbacks be handled?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-failure-event/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-failure-event/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-11T13:11:21Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T12:16:27+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: WordNet gloss; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane ACT: no invented physical properties."},"score":1.0}}