Contain affected decisions while preserving evidence: What should happen first?
Contain potentially harmful decisions first, preserve evidence, and investigate concurrently rather than waiting for causal certainty.
The question
An employment-screening system produces unexpectedly high rejection rates for a protected subgroup. The cause is unknown, and investigation will take time. Existing monitoring, human oversight, and documentation controls are otherwise operating. What should happen first?
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- Complete root-cause analysis before interveningRoot-cause analysis is important, but delaying containment allows potentially harmful screening outcomes to continue while uncertainty remains.
- Transfer final screening decisions to the supplierSupplier involvement may support investigation, but transferring decisions does not contain impacts or establish accountable internal intervention.
- Contain affected decisions while preserving evidence ✓Temporarily limiting affected use, preserving records, and initiating investigation reduces ongoing harm without prejudging the eventual root cause.
- Retrain immediately using recent screening outcomesImmediate retraining risks encoding the unexplained disparity and uses outcomes whose quality and causes have not yet been established.
The trap
When harm may be continuing, prioritize proportionate containment and evidence preservation before completing causal analysis. How to remember it
Contain potentially harmful decisions first, preserve evidence, and investigate concurrently rather than waiting for causal certainty.
How many of these would you get right?
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