Mangeltilstande

Mangeltilstande is a Danish term that translates roughly to fault states or deficiency conditions. It is used to describe conditions in which a system, process, or organism does not meet required performance, safety, or health standards. The concept is relevant across domains such as engineering, information technology, nutrition, and public health, where diagnosing and responding to such states is essential for reliability and safety.

In engineering and safety contexts, mangeltilstande denote abnormal operating conditions identified by sensors or diagnostics. They may be classified as temporary or persistent, reversible or irreversible, and partial or complete. Recognizing mangeltilstande enables monitoring, fault isolation, and corrective actions, including maintenance, shutdown, or redundancy activation. In medical or nutritional contexts the term can describe deficiency states in a patient or population, such as nutrient deficiencies, which require assessment and treatment.

Practical handling involves risk assessment methods such as failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), fault tree analysis, and reliability-centered maintenance. When describing systems, engineers distinguish between normal operation, warning states, and danger states, with defined thresholds and response protocols. The term thus functions as a generic label for conditions that call for evaluation and appropriate intervention.

While the concept is closest to English fault states or deficiency states, usage varies by discipline and language. In Danish, mangeltilstande emphasizes deviation from expected capability and the need for corrective action.