safetypee:
Probably covered by the individual listings and should go without saying, the exp tp has final responsibility for the risk assessment of the flight test. This should include safety precautions, go / no go criteria, emergency equipment, etc.
Sorry, could not disagree more, it certainly does not "go without saying".
In our organisation, while the PIC signs the Test Card for all testing, for testing identified as "high risk" an additional signature must be obtained, from a senior management member (with flight test experience and a safety bias) who participates in the briefing.
Similarly, test planning documents require increasing levels of management approval
in addition to the pilot/crew.
Therefore, the test pilot can at any stage call a halt to testing on grounds of safety, but additional checks and balances are in place as well.
For particularly high risk items I have seen VP or higher involvement directing that a test may not be conducted without certain pre-requisites.
This upwards cascade of the risk responsibility removes some of the programme pressure from the shoulders of the test pilot when the inevitable crunch between timescales and the practical is reached.