After all the Failure Modes have been defined, one or more Failure Effects can be defined for each Failure Mode. A Failure Effect documents the consequence of a failure occurring. Most FMEA methodologies use Failure Effects to capture the safety, environmental, and economic (or production) impacts associated with a failure.
The SAE Standard JA1012, "Evaluation Criteria for Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) Processes," defines the following requirements for Failure Effects:
Failure Effects shall describe what would happen if no specific task is done to anticipate, prevent, or detect the failure.
Failure Effects shall include all the information needed to support the evaluation of the consequences of the failure, including the following data:
The evidence (if any) that the failure has occurred (in the case of hidden functions, what would happen if a multiple failure occurred).
What the failure does (if anything) to kill or injure someone, or to have an adverse effect on the environment.
What the failure does (if anything) to have an adverse effect on production or operations.
What physical damage (if any) is caused by the failure.
What (if anything) must be done to restore the function of the system after the failure.