Maintenance activities are commonly organized into scheduled and unscheduled actions. Scheduled maintenance is undertaken during pre-programmed inspections. Such maintenance operations try to minimize the risk of deterioration based on a priori knowledge of failure mechanisms and their timing. However, in complex systems it is not always possible to schedule maintenance actions to mitigate all undesired effects, and SMART systems, which monitor selected parameters, propose actions to correct any deviation in normal behavior. Maintenance decisions must be made on the basis of accepted risk. Performed or not performed scheduled tasks as well as deferred corrective actions can have positive or negative consequences for the company, technicians and machines. These three risks should be properly assessed and prioritized as a function of the goals to be achieved. This paper focuses on how best practices in risk assessment for human safety can be successfully transferred to risk assessment for asset integrity.