My state requires annual safety inspections of automobiles on the road as a method to detect and correct deficiencies that might otherwise be overlooked. My customer requires annual calibration as a method to detect and correct measurement deficiencies that might otherwise be overlooked. My company requires annual preventative maintenance checks to reduce the occurrence of equipment breakdowns.
Annual validation can be used as detection, but compared to other methods, it depends on how expensive, how noticeable, how gradual and how frequent are the deficiencies you check for.