Product Liability and Safety

In design In manufacturing In marketing

In Design

Plan for safety as a requirement Fire, explosion,electrocution,

contamination,...

Design reviews for safety Demonstrate an attitude of concern

Design Reviews for Safety

It’s not good enough just to make it work

Follow established standards ANSI, NEC, NESC, UL, IEEE,

etc.

Demonstrate an Attitude of Concern

Safety analysis Preliminary Hazard Analysis, Failure Modes and

Effects Analysis, Fault Tree Analysis, etc.

Identify high energy systems Danger! HIGH VOLTAGE

Identify critical systems Failures in what subsystems/components will

cause catastrophic failure.

Safety Analysis

Each system Each subsystem Each board Each component Single-point Multipoint

Identify High Energy Systems

Guard Isolate Monitor heat Alarm systems Warn when you can’t avoid

Identify Critical Systems

Controls Power to controls Power to life support Electrical grounding Make redundant Make robust Make fail-safe

In Manufacturing

Quality assurance Quality control Incoming parts Procedures followed Systems going out

Functional testing Safety testing

In Marketing

Warnings as a last resort Surgeon General’s warning

Incorporate human factors engineering Ergonomics

Attorney Intentional - knowingly and deliberately

– Ford Pinto

Negligent - didn’t know, but insufficient safety considerations

– no life support backup systems

Reckless - not intentional, but knowingly– Challenger