[1] GSN has been used to track safety assurances in industries such as clinical care[3] aviation,[4] automotive, rail,[5] traffic management, and nuclear power[6] and has been used in other contexts such as security cases, patent claims, debate strategy, and legal arguments.
The notation was further developed and expanded by Tim Kelly, whose PhD thesis contributed systematic methods for constructing and maintaining GSN diagrams, and the concept of ′safety case patterns′ to promote the re-use of argument fragments.
[1] Charles Haddon-Cave in his review of the Nimrod accident commented that the top goal of a GSN argument can drive a conclusion that is already assumed, such as that a platform is deemed acceptably safe.
This could lead to the safety case becoming a "self-fulfilling prophesy", giving a "warm sense of over-confidence" rather than highlighting uncertainties, gaps in knowledge or areas where the mitigation argument was not straightforward.
[9] Haddon-Cave also criticised the practice of consultants producing "outsize GSN charts" that could be yards long and became an end in themselves rather than an aid to structured thinking.