­­­­A Literature Review of the Construction and Utilization of Risk Matrices : A U.S. Aerospace Industry Perspective

Over the past 30 years, an extensive knowledge-base in the construction and utilization of risk matrices to score and rank risks has been accumulated. Still, within the domain of the continuous risk management (CRM) process, key issues associated with risk matrices have produced divergent schools of thought: a utilitarian focus among practitioners, and a more theoretical, and sometimes abstract, focus among the academic community. This literature will examine CRM practices in human space flight at the National NASA, the U.S. DoD, including many of their aerospace contractors, to assess the key factors in the construction and use of risk matrices