PRODUCT SAFETYLIABILITY

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PRODUCT SAFETY/LIABILITY
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WHY ARE WE INTERESTED IN PRODUCT SAFETY?

• THE CODE OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR FOR ENGINEERS
• THE ALLEGATION OF "NOT SAFE" RESULTS IN PRODUCT
  LIABILITY

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Product Liability

• Legal Theory under which a person injured by a
  product (Plaintiff) can sue the manufacturer
  (Defendant) for damages.

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Some Legal Milestones in Product Liability

• 1750 BC Code of Hammurabi
• 450 BC Roman Civil Law
• 200 BC The Old Testament
• 1166 English Common Law

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Common Law

• Cases decided by judges in the absence of law

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Some Legal Milestones in Product Liability

• 1750 BC Code of Hammurabi
• 450 BC Roman Civil Law
• 200 BC The Old Testament
• 1166 English Common Law

• 1842 Winterbottom v Wright
• A seller is liable for injury by his product
  only to the party with whom he has contracted to
  supply the product (Rule of Privity).

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Some Legal Milestones in Product Liability

• 1750 BC Code of Hammurabi
• 450 BC Roman Civil Law
• 200 BC The Old Testament
• 1166 English Common Law
• 1842 Winterbottom v Wright

• 1850 Brown v Kendall
• Imposed the necessity of the plaintiff
  proving negligence by the defendant for the
  purpose of imposing liability for accidental
  injury.

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Negligence

• The product had a defective or harmful condi-tion
  when it left the control of the manufacturer such
  as a concealed danger, a manufacturing defect, a
  design defect.
• The defect caused the injury, proximate cause.
• The harm was foreseeable to defendant
• The defendant did not take reasonable precautions
  to guard against harm. Conduct which is not what
  the reasonable person would do.

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Some Legal Milestones in Product Liability

• 1750 BC Code of Hammurabi
• 450 BC Roman Civil Law
• 200 BC The Old Testament
• 1166 English Common Law
• 1842 Winterbottom v Wright
• 1850 Brown v Kendall

• 1916 McPherson v Buick
• Manufacturer has a duty to inspect for
  defects. Privity not required.

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Legal Milestones (cont)

• 1963 Greenman v. Yuba Power
• Strict Liability
• 1. The product had a defective condition.
• 2. The defect existed when it left the
  defend- ants control
• 3. The defect made the product unreasonably
  dangerous.
• 4. The defect was the cause of the
  accident. (No Negligence)

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Sect. 402(A) Restatement of Torts (1965)

• (1) Who sells any product in a defective
  condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or
  to his property is subject to liability for
  physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user
  or consum-er, or to his property if
• (a) the seller is engaged in the business of
  selling such a product, and
• (b) it is expected to and does reach the user or
  consumer without substantial change in the
  condition in which it is sold

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Sect. 402(A) Restatement of Torts (1965) (cont)

• (2) The rule stated in subsection (1) applies
  although
• (a) the seller has exercised all possible care
  in the preparation and sale of the product, and
• (b) the user or consumer has not bought the
  product from or entered into any
  contractual relation with the seller.

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DEFECTIVE CONDITIONS

• DEFECTIVE IN DESIGN (THE PRODUCT IS NOT SUITABLE
  FOR ITS INTENDED USE OR FOR FORESEEABLE ABUSE OR
  MISUSE)
• DEFECTIVE IN MANUFACTURE
• INADEQUATELY LABELED AS TO PROPER USE AND
  WARNINGS
• INADEQUATE OR NO INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPER SETUP,
  USE OR MAINTENANCE
• INADEQUATELY PACKAGED SO THAT SAFETY RELATED
  DAMAGE COULD RESULT DURING SHIPPING AND HANDING

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DEFECTIVE CONDITIONS (CONT)

• FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PROPER RECORDS OF SALES,
  DISTRIBUTlON AND MANUFACTURE
• FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PROPER RECORDS OF FAILURES
  AND CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

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Legal Milestones (cont)

• 1963 Greenman v Yuba Power

• 1968 Barth v B.F. Goodrich
• Contributory Negligence is no defense in a
  strict liability action.

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Legal Milestones (cont)

• 1963 Greenman v Yuba Power
• 1968 Barth v B.F. Goodrich

• 1970 Thomas v General Motors
• The manufacturer is liable for any and all
  foreseeable uses, misuses, and abuses of the
  product and even for abnormal uses which were
  foreseeable and could have been designed against
  or otherwise safeguarded.

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Legal Milestones (cont)

• 1963 Greenman v Yuba Power
• 1968 Barth v B.F. Goodrich
• 1970 Thomas v General Motors

• 1972 Cronin v J.B.E. Olson Corp.
• A defective product that causes an injury need
  not be unreasonably dangerous to be liable.

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Some Definitions

• HAZARD The potential for some energy source to
  get out of control
• ACCIDENT An unplanned and unexpect-ed event that
  occurs when an energy source gets out of control
  (and causes injury or damage).
• SEVERITY The extent of damages due to an accident
  ()
• FREQUENCY The rate at which a given accident
  occurs (probability).

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Some Definitions (cont)

• RISK
• The Combination (Multiplication) of the
  Frequency of Occurrence of an accident due to a
  hazard and the Severity of the injuries or damage
  produced (within a fixed time frame)
• SAFETY
• is no accident
• Safety is a Judgement of the acceptability of
  risk

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Judgement is made by society through its laws and
regulations and is arbitrated in the courts. (Not
made by engineers.)
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The most fundamental aspect of product safety
starts with the designer who must be aware of the
hazards associated with products and design
accordingly. Hazard analysis is the fundamental
first step.
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How do you do Hazard Analysis?

• You must start with a general understanding of
  the Causes of accidents.
• You review the literature for information about
  product hazards related to your product.
• You apply formal hazard analysis methodologies

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"CAUSES" OF ACCIDENTS

• Human Errors
• Generally Random in nature as to when and
  where it will occur. Generally Predictable that
  it Will Occur Due to
• (a) Lack of Attention
• (b) Misuse of product
• (c) Abuse of product
• (d) Ignorance of inherent danger

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"CAUSES" OF ACCIDENTS

• Human Errors

• Design Errors
• Produce Repeatable accident pattern due to
• (a) Poor Functional Design
• (b) Improper Material Selection
• (c) Lack of appropriate safety guards and
  interlocks
• (d) Inadequate consideration of the Human
  Factors Aspects of design
• (e) Inadequate testing of design
• (f) Inadequate consideration of Foreseeable
  Abuses and Misuses

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"CAUSES" OF ACCIDENTS

• Human Errors
• Design Errors

• Manufacturing Errors
• Can produce Random or Repeatable Errors
• (a) Basic Fabrication Defects
• (b) Assembly Errors
• (c) Inadequate quality control and testing

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"CAUSES" OF ACCIDENTS

• Human Errors
• Design Errors
• Manufacturing Errors

• Unusual Environmental Conditions
• Usually Random Events
• (a) Natural Environmental Phenomena
• (b) Man-made Environmental Circumstances

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"CAUSES" OF ACCIDENTS

• Human Errors
• Design Errors
• Manufacturing Errors
• Unusual Environmental Conditions

• Estimates are that 70 of all accidents are
  caused by a combination of Human Errors and
  Defects associated with the product.

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SOURCES OF INFORMATION CONCERNING HAZARDS

• TECHNICAL LITERATURE
• A. ENGINEERING JOURNALS
• B. MEDICAL JOURNALS

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SOURCES OF INFORMATION CONCERNING HAZARDS

• TECHNICAL LITERATURE

• STANDARDS
• A. (ANSI)
• B. (OSHA)
• C. ASCE, ASME, ASSE, ASTM, IEEE, SAE, UL
• D. ISO, CSA, BSO etc

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SOURCES OF INFORMATION CONCERNING HAZARDS

• TECHNICAL LITERATURE
• STANDARDS

• NEWSPAPERS
• MAGAZINES
• TRADE PUBLICATIONS

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METHODS OF HAZARD ANALYSIS

• Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
• Hardware Block Diagram
• Functional Block Diagram
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FEMA)
• Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
• Management Oversight Risk Tree (MORT)
• Sneak Circuit Analysis (SNA)

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Introduction to Engineering II
READING ASSIGNMENT Chapter 8 Section 8.5 to
8.0 From Engineering by Design by Voland