Life Critical

Something that can kill somebody if it fails is LifeCritical. Electrical appliances, boats, medical equipment, are all LifeCritical. Software is rarely LifeCritical; exceptions include life-support systems, power plant software, fly-by-wire systems, and patient monitoring software.

Although, I guess it's not part of the official definition of an Engineer, there's a definite sense that Engineers do LifeCritical stuff. And yet if most software is MoneyCritical rather than LifeCritical...

As an example, I remember the LeadEngineer? for the PrinceEdwardIsland? bridge talking about how few people died on the project. Note that "few" is greater than zero. --JasonYip