Risk management overarches projects associated with a particular product family, given that risks will both remain and change as new design features and medical indications for use evolve with a particular device. Design control is not only a requirement of the QMS, but risk management must be applied to the design control process itself.
During all phases of design controls and the design control process, any new consideration must be held up against the scrutiny of potential risk and harm to the health of people, damage to property, or to the environment during all stages of a product’s life cycle and supply chain.
Risk management is a process that involves many considerations, responsibilities, personnel, and the transfer of knowledge. Given that it transcends projects and even companies, it is particularly critical that key pieces of information survive these many hand-offs.