The "Five Safes": A framework for planning, designing and evaluating data access solutions

Ritchie, Felix

Abstract

The ‘Five Safes’ is a popular way to structure thinking about data access solutions. Originally used mainly by statistical agencies and social science academics , in recent years it has been adopted more widely across government, health organisations and private sector bodies.
This paper explains the Five Safes, how the concept is used to organise and simplify decision-making, and how it helps to address concerns of different constituencies. We show how it aligns to recent regulation, anticipating the shift towards multi-dimensional data management strategies. We provide a number of practical examples as case studies for further information.
We also briefly consider what issues the Five Safes does not address, and how the framework sits within a wider body of work on data access which challenges traditional data access models.

Citation

Ritchie, F. (2017, September). The "Five Safes": A framework for planning, designing and evaluating data access solutions. Paper presented at Data for Policy 2017, London, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Data for Policy 2017
• Start Date: Sep 6, 2017
• End Date: Sep 7, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Aug 28, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Sep 20, 2017
• Publication Date: Sep 21, 2017
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: confidentiality, data access, data management, governance
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/880713
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.897821
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Data For Policy 2017