safety margins
Built-in protective cushions
Safety margins are the extra capacity or buffer built into a system beyond what's strictly necessary—the gap between operating conditions and failure point.
Engineers design bridges with safety margins so they can handle loads well beyond expected use.
The term extends to any cushion against risk: We left early to give ourselves a safety margin for traffic.
In medicine, a safety margin might be the difference between a therapeutic dose and a toxic one.
- bufferProtective intermediate space
- cushionStuffed fabric for comfort
- toleranceWillingness to accept difference
- leewayPermissible margin of freedom
- redundancyNeedless duplication
failsafe · threshold · clearance · backup · slack · padding · room to spare · headroom · reserve · wiggle room · precaution · engineering · stress · stress test · load · breaking point · worst case scenario · overshoot
- engineeringengineers, civil engineering, engineering, electrical engineering, blueprint
- structural safetybracing, reinforcement, load bearing, supports, rebar
- nuclear regulationnuclear policy, operating license, nuclear facilities, IAEA, radiation protection
- reactor safetycontrol rods, scram, pressure vessel, passive cooling, defense in depth
- risk assessmentrisk factors, risk mitigation, exposure assessment, dose-response, relative risk
- resilienceresilience, grit, bounce back, bouncing back, robustness
safety marginszero tolerance
Policy allowing no infractions
tight tolerances · red line · pushing the envelope · on the edge · breakpoint
safety marginsliving on the edge
red zone · danger zone · calculated risks · running on fumes · at capacity
safety, margin, safe, safely, safeness, unsafe, safeguard, safekeeping, safest