John,
Allow me to comment further on this issue. I seem to remember
a saying that goes "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."
By the same token, I have always expressed within my area of
influence that the truest test of our internal ITE safety
policies, practices and processes is field history.
We all know that standards, like many other sets of knowledge,
evolve from errors over time. Another saying that makes this
point is "Success comes from experience. Experience comes from
failure." Overall, I believe the ITE industry has a superb safety
record, given the exponential growth of this industry from corporate
uses to homes, dorm rooms, etc.
Hundreds of people are killed or injured every day in the use of
various products, e.g. vehicles, farm equipment, firearms (hunting
accidents), aircraft, etc. The majority of these are due to
operator error and/or poor judgement. The more complex products
are the ones more likely to develop a defect that could lead to
deaths, e.g. aircraft.
In the eight plus years I have been in product safety, I am not
aware of a reported serious injury or death from the intended
use or misuse of an ITE product. This does not mean there have
been none, but it does mean that ITE is not a significant cause
of injury or death. This is a result of fairly sound standards,
common sense, experience, and due diligence in maintaining the
original certified design of each product.
We probably all know of improvements we would make in this
process if we got to be "king for a day". Most of us handle
these as internal requirements beyond the imposed external
requirements. The way we define and account for the use of safety
critical parts is one small aspect of a much more complex series
of processes leading to protecting ITE users from harm.
George Alspaugh
These are personal opinions only.
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