Capability targets are largely considered within the context of the THIRA process, which is a part of hazard identification within processes and the reduction of said hazards through adequate measures, as assessed within the process. Capability targets come in within the third step of the process, which is the establishment of objectives having assessed hazards within their context. This paper considers the application of material and non-material capability targets.
Material capability targets describe expected tangible results that would arise from the set impacts and desired outcomes. Simple operations are likely to produce very simple outcomes which are largely material. For example, to consider a rescue mission is a fairly straightforward mission, where the material capability target would be to rescue 300 people. This is a tangible result of the capability target that can be physically counted. As a result, material targets express quantitative data such as population impact, area impact, and number of injuries or fatalities, among others.
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Non-material capability targets, on the other hand, are used to describe the desired outcome of an operation, where quantitative data regarding the effect of the operation is not involved. For example, one may want to conduct a search and rescue operation within four hours. This does not give the effect of the operation. Rather, the timeline of the operation is given where it is expected that optimal results will be obtained.
In some cases, a combination of both material and non-material capability targets are set. In the case of an oil-rig explosion, a number of workers will be on site. Nevertheless, such an operation is time-sensitive. Therefore, such a capability target would have provisions like: rescuing one hundred people in two hours. Conclusively, therefore, an application of both scenarios is determined.
