This paper describes a new approach towards the development of a comprehensive oxide scale failure diagram (OSFD) that delineates the mechanical limits of scales for the different types of failure mechanisms. While former diagrams of a similar type were based on relating the critical strain to scale failure to oxide scale thickness, the new approach replaces scale thickness with a comprehensive operational parameter x o that summarizes in a multi-level treatment all contributing factors, e.g. physical defect size, interface roughness, scale thickness, Young's modulus, fracture toughness, etc., that influence failure strain. While this approach should ideally be based on a comprehensive treatment of x o using fully implemented coding, further considerations based on the identification of ''lowimpact'' and ''high-impact'' parameters lead to a simplified OSFD where only the physical defect size is needed. This simplified approach can be used to assess the strain tolerance of oxide scales in industrial operation once the particular diagram has been established from laboratory data.