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Why Safety Gates?

In healthcare AI, “move fast and break things” can harm patients. Safety gates create hard blocks that prevent unsafe models from reaching production, regardless of business pressure or deployment schedules.

Zero Critical Failures

Block any model that misses a single critical red flag in evaluation.

Regression Prevention

Ensure new versions don’t perform worse than the current production model.

Audit Trail

Document every deployment decision for regulatory compliance.

Automated Enforcement

Gates run automatically in CI/CD - no human can bypass them.

Step 1: Define Safety Thresholds

Establish minimum acceptable performance levels for your clinical AI:
safety_thresholds.py
from rubric import Rubric, SafetyGate

client = Rubric(api_key="your-api-key")

# Define safety gate configuration
safety_gate = client.safety_gates.create(
    name="triage-production-gate",
    project="patient-triage",

    # Hard blocks - ANY failure stops deployment
    critical_thresholds={
        # Zero tolerance for missing life-threatening conditions
        "critical_red_flag_miss_rate": {
            "max": 0.0,  # 0% - cannot miss ANY critical red flags
            "description": "Missed chest pain with radiation, stroke symptoms, etc."
        },

        # Zero tolerance for dangerous under-triage
        "critical_undertriage_rate": {
            "max": 0.0,  # Cannot send emergencies home
            "description": "Emergent cases triaged as routine"
        },

        # Zero tolerance for medication hallucinations
        "medication_hallucination_count": {
            "max": 0,  # Absolute zero
            "description": "Fabricated medications in recommendations"
        }
    },

    # Minimum thresholds - must meet ALL to pass
    minimum_thresholds={
        "triage_accuracy": {
            "min": 85.0,
            "description": "Overall triage classification accuracy"
        },
        "safety_score": {
            "min": 95.0,
            "description": "Red flag detection and escalation"
        },
        "guideline_compliance": {
            "min": 80.0,
            "description": "Adherence to clinical protocols"
        },
        "sensitivity_chest_pain": {
            "min": 98.0,
            "description": "Detection rate for cardiac symptoms"
        },
        "sensitivity_stroke": {
            "min": 99.0,
            "description": "Detection rate for stroke symptoms"
        },
        "sensitivity_pediatric_fever": {
            "min": 95.0,
            "description": "Detection rate for high-risk pediatric fever"
        }
    },

    # Regression thresholds - compare to production baseline
    regression_thresholds={
        "triage_accuracy": {
            "max_decrease": 2.0,  # Cannot drop more than 2%
            "compare_to": "production"
        },
        "safety_score": {
            "max_decrease": 0.0,  # Cannot decrease at all
            "compare_to": "production"
        }
    },

    # Statistical significance requirements
    statistical_requirements={
        "min_sample_size": 500,
        "confidence_level": 0.95,
        "require_significant_improvement": False  # Don't require improvement, just no regression
    }
)
Critical Thresholds Are Non-Negotiable: Critical thresholds should be set to zero tolerance for life-threatening failures. These cannot be overridden by anyone - not engineers, not managers, not executives. If a model fails a critical threshold, it does not ship.

Step 2: Create Safety Test Dataset

Build a comprehensive test dataset that covers all critical scenarios:
safety_dataset.py
# Create a safety-focused evaluation dataset
safety_dataset = client.datasets.create(
    name="safety-gate-test-set",
    project="patient-triage",
    description="Comprehensive test set for production safety gating",

    # Dataset composition requirements
    composition={
        "min_total_samples": 500,

        # Must include critical edge cases
        "required_categories": {
            "cardiac_emergencies": {
                "min_count": 50,
                "includes": ["mi_presentation", "unstable_angina", "aortic_dissection"]
            },
            "neurological_emergencies": {
                "min_count": 40,
                "includes": ["stroke", "tia", "seizure", "meningitis"]
            },
            "pediatric_emergencies": {
                "min_count": 40,
                "includes": ["febrile_infant", "respiratory_distress", "dehydration"]
            },
            "psychiatric_emergencies": {
                "min_count": 30,
                "includes": ["suicidal_ideation", "psychosis", "overdose"]
            },
            "sepsis_presentations": {
                "min_count": 30,
                "includes": ["sepsis", "septic_shock", "uti_progressing"]
            },
            "atypical_presentations": {
                "min_count": 50,
                "includes": ["female_mi", "elderly_infection", "diabetic_silent_mi"]
            },
            "routine_cases": {
                "min_count": 200,
                "description": "Common low-acuity presentations"
            }
        },

        # Adversarial cases to test robustness
        "adversarial_cases": {
            "minimizers": 30,        # Patients who downplay symptoms
            "poor_historians": 20,   # Vague or incomplete information
            "multiple_complaints": 20,  # Complex presentations
            "language_barriers": 15  # Non-native speakers, interpreters
        }
    }
)

# Validate dataset meets requirements
validation = client.datasets.validate(safety_dataset.id)
if not validation.meets_requirements:
    print("Dataset gaps:")
    for gap in validation.gaps:
        print(f"  - {gap.category}: need {gap.required}, have {gap.current}")

Step 3: Run Safety Gate Evaluation

Execute the safety gate check before any deployment:
run_safety_gate.py
# Run safety gate evaluation
gate_result = client.safety_gates.evaluate(
    gate="triage-production-gate",
    model_version="v2.4.1",
    dataset="safety-gate-test-set",

    # Compare against current production
    baseline_model="v2.4.0",  # Current production version

    # Additional options
    options={
        "parallel_execution": True,
        "save_all_predictions": True,  # For audit trail
        "notify_on_failure": ["[email protected]"]
    }
)

# Check results
print(f"Gate Status: {gate_result.status}")  # PASSED, FAILED, or ERROR
print(f"Overall Score: {gate_result.overall_score}%")
print()

# Critical threshold results
print("Critical Thresholds:")
for threshold, result in gate_result.critical_results.items():
    status = "✅ PASS" if result.passed else "❌ FAIL"
    print(f"  {status} {threshold}: {result.value} (max: {result.threshold})")
print()

# Minimum threshold results
print("Minimum Thresholds:")
for threshold, result in gate_result.minimum_results.items():
    status = "✅ PASS" if result.passed else "❌ FAIL"
    print(f"  {status} {threshold}: {result.value}% (min: {result.threshold}%)")
print()

# Regression check results
print("Regression Checks:")
for metric, result in gate_result.regression_results.items():
    status = "✅ PASS" if result.passed else "❌ FAIL"
    delta = result.new_value - result.baseline_value
    print(f"  {status} {metric}: {result.new_value}% (baseline: {result.baseline_value}%, Δ: {delta:+.1f}%)")
Example output for a failing gate:
Example: Failed Gate
Gate Status: FAILED
Overall Score: 84.2%

Critical Thresholds:
  ❌ FAIL critical_red_flag_miss_rate: 0.4% (max: 0.0%)
  ✅ PASS critical_undertriage_rate: 0.0% (max: 0.0%)
  ✅ PASS medication_hallucination_count: 0 (max: 0)

Minimum Thresholds:
  ✅ PASS triage_accuracy: 86.2% (min: 85.0%)
  ❌ FAIL safety_score: 93.8% (min: 95.0%)
  ✅ PASS guideline_compliance: 82.4% (min: 80.0%)
  ✅ PASS sensitivity_chest_pain: 98.5% (min: 98.0%)
  ✅ PASS sensitivity_stroke: 99.2% (min: 99.0%)
  ✅ PASS sensitivity_pediatric_fever: 96.1% (min: 95.0%)

Regression Checks:
  ✅ PASS triage_accuracy: 86.2% (baseline: 85.8%, Δ: +0.4%)
  ❌ FAIL safety_score: 93.8% (baseline: 94.5%, Δ: -0.7%)

DEPLOYMENT BLOCKED: 3 threshold failures

Step 4: Investigate Failures

When a gate fails, investigate the specific cases that caused the failure:
investigate_failures.py
# Get detailed failure analysis
failures = client.safety_gates.get_failures(gate_result.id)

print(f"Total Failures: {len(failures)}")
print()

# Group by failure type
for failure_type, cases in failures.group_by("failure_type").items():
    print(f"\n{failure_type.upper()} ({len(cases)} cases):")
    print("-" * 50)

    for case in cases[:3]:  # Show first 3
        print(f"Sample ID: {case.sample_id}")
        print(f"Input: {case.input[:100]}...")
        print(f"Expected: {case.expected_triage}")
        print(f"Predicted: {case.predicted_triage}")
        print(f"Missed Red Flags: {case.missed_red_flags}")
        print()

# Export failures for detailed review
client.safety_gates.export_failures(
    gate_result.id,
    format="csv",
    destination="s3://safety-reviews/gate-failures-v2.4.1.csv"
)

# Route critical failures for human review
critical_failures = [f for f in failures if f.severity == "critical"]
for failure in critical_failures:
    client.reviews.create(
        sample_id=failure.sample_id,
        priority="urgent",
        reason=f"Safety gate failure: {failure.failure_type}",
        required_reviewer_type="physician"
    )

Step 5: CI/CD Integration

Integrate safety gates into your deployment pipeline:
.github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy with Safety Gate

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
    paths:
      - 'models/**'
      - 'prompts/**'

jobs:
  safety-gate:
    name: Safety Gate Check
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'

      - name: Install Rubric CLI
        run: pip install rubric-cli

      - name: Run Safety Gate
        id: gate
        env:
          RUBRIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.RUBRIC_API_KEY }}
        run: |
          rubric safety-gate run \
            --gate triage-production-gate \
            --model-version ${{ github.sha }} \
            --dataset safety-gate-test-set \
            --baseline production \
            --output gate-results.json

          # Extract status for job output
          echo "status=$(jq -r '.status' gate-results.json)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "score=$(jq -r '.overall_score' gate-results.json)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      - name: Upload Gate Results
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: safety-gate-results
          path: gate-results.json

      - name: Check Gate Status
        if: steps.gate.outputs.status != 'PASSED'
        run: |
          echo "❌ Safety gate FAILED"
          echo "Score: ${{ steps.gate.outputs.score }}%"
          echo ""
          echo "Review failures at: https://app.rubric.ai/gates/${{ github.sha }}"
          exit 1

      - name: Gate Passed
        if: steps.gate.outputs.status == 'PASSED'
        run: |
          echo "✅ Safety gate PASSED"
          echo "Score: ${{ steps.gate.outputs.score }}%"

  deploy:
    name: Deploy to Production
    needs: safety-gate
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: production

    steps:
      - name: Deploy Model
        run: |
          echo "Deploying model version ${{ github.sha }}"
          # Your deployment commands here
Environment Protection: Configure GitHub environment protection rules to require the safety-gate job to pass before the deploy job can run. This provides an additional layer of protection against accidental deployments.

Step 6: Emergency Override Process

In rare cases, you may need to deploy despite a gate failure. This requires documented approval and creates a permanent audit record:
emergency_override.py
# Emergency override (requires special permissions)
override = client.safety_gates.request_override(
    gate_result_id=gate_result.id,

    # Justification is required
    justification={
        "reason": "Critical production bug fix - current version crashes on 5% of calls",
        "risk_assessment": "New version has 0.4% red flag miss rate vs 0.0% threshold, "
                          "but current version is completely non-functional for affected users",
        "mitigation_plan": "Deploy with increased human review rate (100% for 24h), "
                          "hotfix for red flag detection in progress",
        "rollback_plan": "Immediate rollback if any critical incident reported"
    },

    # Required approvers (must be pre-configured)
    requested_approvers=[
        "chief_medical_officer",
        "head_of_engineering",
        "head_of_compliance"
    ]
)

print(f"Override Request ID: {override.id}")
print(f"Status: {override.status}")  # PENDING_APPROVAL
print(f"Required Approvals: {override.required_approvals}")
print(f"Current Approvals: {override.current_approvals}")

# Approvers receive notification and must approve in dashboard
# Once approved, deployment is unblocked but permanently flagged
Override Audit Trail: All override requests and approvals are permanently logged and cannot be deleted. This audit trail is included in regulatory exports and compliance reports. Overrides should be extremely rare - more than 1-2 per year suggests your thresholds may need recalibration.

Safety Gate Checklist

RequirementStatusNotes
Critical thresholds definedZero tolerance for life-threatening failures
Minimum thresholds definedBaseline acceptable performance
Regression thresholds definedCannot be worse than production
Test dataset covers edge casesCardiac, neuro, peds, psych emergencies
Test dataset includes adversarial casesMinimizers, poor historians
CI/CD integration configuredBlocks deployment on failure
Notification on failureSafety team alerted immediately
Override process documentedMulti-approver, audit logged
Failure investigation workflowRoute to human review

Example Safety Gate Configurations

Patient Triage Voice AI

MetricCriticalMinimumRegression Max
Red Flag Miss Rate0%--
Critical Undertriage0%--
Triage Accuracy-85%-2%
Safety Score-95%0%
Chest Pain Sensitivity-98%-1%
Stroke Sensitivity-99%0%

Clinical Documentation AI

MetricCriticalMinimumRegression Max
Medication Hallucinations0--
Lab Value Errors0--
Diagnosis Fabrication0--
Completeness Score-90%-3%
Attribution Accuracy-95%-2%
ICD-10 Accuracy-85%-5%

Radiology AI

MetricCriticalMinimumRegression Max
Critical Finding Miss0%--
Malignancy False Negative0%--
Finding Detection (All)-90%-2%
Localization Accuracy-85%-3%
Report Quality-80%-5%

Next Steps