Editing Checklist (section)

===Safety critical systems===
Checklists are used to help avoid accidental omission of important preparation of equipment and systems. These may be routine operations like pre-flight checks on an airliner or relatively infrequent occasions like commissioning a nuclear power station or launching a spacecraft. The value of checklists is proportional to the complexity of the system and the consequences of a system failure. They may also aid in mitigating claims of negligence in [[public liability]] claims by providing evidence of a risk management system being in place. A signed off checklist with a document describing the listed checks may be accepted as evidence of due diligence. Conversely, the absence of a mandatory checklist may be considered evidence of negligence.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

====Aviation and space flight safety====
Checklists have long been a feature of [[aviation safety]] to ensure that critical items are not overlooked.<ref name="Higgins and Boorman 2016" /> The best known example is the cockpit [[preflight checklist]], which is intended to ensure that the crew correctly configures the aircraft for flight on every flight. A normal checklist is used before critical flight segments, such as takeoff, approach and landing, which are the phases in which the highest incidence of accidents occur due to procedural error. Checklists are also used for troubleshooting, to identify and where practicable, correct malfunctions. They cannot substitute for pilot skill and learned and practiced immediate response to critical malfunctions, but are useful for mitigation attempts when time allows.<ref name="Degani and Wiener 1990" />

====Health care====
In health care, particularly surgery, checklists may be used to ensure that the correct procedure is carried out on each patient.<ref name="Checklists" /> Checklists have been used in healthcare practice to ensure that [[clinical practice guideline]]s are followed. An example is the [[WHO Surgical Safety Checklist]] developed for the [[World Health Organization]] and found to have a large effect on improving patient safety.<ref name="Checklists" /> According to a [[meta-analysis]] after introduction of the checklist mortality dropped by 23% and all complications by 40%, but higher-quality studies are required to make the meta-analysis more robust.<ref name="Bergs et al 2014" /> Checklist use in healthcare has not always met with success and transferability between settings has been questioned.<ref name="Dixon-Woods et al 2013" /> A survey found them to have no statistical effect in a cohort of hospitals in the Province of Ontario in Canada.<ref name="Urbach et al 2014" /> In the UK, a study on the implementation of a checklist for provision of medical care to elderly patients admitting to hospital found that the checklist highlighted limitations with frailty assessment in acute care and motivated teams to review routine practices, but that work is needed to understand whether and how checklists can be embedded in complex multidisciplinary care.<ref name="Papoutsi et al 2018" />

====Underwater diving====
In [[professional diving]], checklists are used in the preparation of equipment for a dive, and to ensure that the diver and life support systems are fully prepared before they enter the water. To a lesser extent, checklists are used by a minority of [[Recreational diving|recreational divers]], and by a larger proportion of [[Technical diving|technical divers]] during pre-dive checks.<ref name="Ranapurwala 2014" /><ref name="Hodges et al 2019" /> Studies have shown [[Diving safety#Use of checklists|checklists to be effective]] at reducing the number of errors and consequent incidents.<ref name="Hodges et al 2019" />