{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/do-not-transfer-ownership-until-the-receiver-accepts-it",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0361",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Do not transfer ownership until the receiver accepts it",
  "summary": "Forwarding the message is not the same as transferring responsibility.",
  "kind": "principle",
  "body": "Name what is being handed over, who is taking it and when the transfer becomes effective. The sender remains responsible until the receiver has acknowledged the handoff and has enough information to act. If nobody explicitly accepts, the ownership has not moved just because a message was sent.",
  "limits": [
    "Organizational policy may require additional formal transfer or approval beyond conversational acknowledgment."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-high-reliability-communication"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-C7BE182238850FC0"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "AHRQ TeamSTEPPS states that responsibility in a handoff remains with the sender until the receiver is aware of and accepts the transfer.",
      "source_id": "RS-C7BE182238850FC0",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Formal authority structures may impose additional transfer requirements.",
      "locator": "Transfer of responsibility and accountability; acknowledgment by receiver"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "A task, incident or customer issue changes hands across a shift, team or person."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Organizational policy may require additional formal transfer or approval beyond conversational acknowledgment."
  ],
  "example": "An on-call engineer sends the incident state and waits for the incoming engineer to confirm ownership before leaving.",
  "check": "At any moment, one accountable owner can be named without guessing from message history.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-C7BE182238850FC0",
      "title": "Tool: Handoff",
      "url": "https://www.ahrq.gov/teamstepps-program/curriculum/communication/tools/handoff.html"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0361",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0362",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/hand-off-the-uncertainty-not-just-the-status"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-EDE4DDA550A31359",
      "title": "Close the communication loop when ambiguity can become an error",
      "url": "/collections/close-the-communication-loop-when-ambiguity-can-become-an-error"
    }
  ]
}