On 3/6/2015 2:56 AM, John Woodgate wrote:
Making the designers responsible for the safety of the design (as
opposed to the safety of what is shipped, over which they have no
control) immediately eliminates any claim that it's not their problem
and/or cramps their style.
I'm not a Safety Engineer; my work is in EMC but...
Some years ago, after the EU tripled the immunity requirement for
medical equipment, I had occasion to speak with a management type
complaining that a test plan I'd written required them to do tests no
other firm did, and would place them at a competitive disadvantage.
Asked why, I said: "Because I don't want you to kill people whose lives
you're trying to save." *
End of discussion.
* For an example of what I was thinking about, see number 3 Banana Skin
at /http://www.compliance-club.com/archive/old_archive/Bananaskins.htm/
. In any event no one had HAD to test to those levels before, and he
didn't want to start.
It seems to me that many firms waste and disparage the pride its own
engineering staff takes in work they do, binding it in a web of Six
Sigma process control inapplicable to creative work, and grinding it
away with a wheel made equally of cost cutting and dismissal of
identifiable risks deemed conveniently unlikely to occur. That may be
another topic.
Cortland Richmond
-
----------------------------------------------------------------
This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion
list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org>
All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at:
http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html
Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at
http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used
formats), large files, etc.
Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/
Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe)
List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html
For help, send mail to the list administrators:
Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org>
Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org>
For policy questions, send mail to:
Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org>
David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>
