Response to case study scenario 1

DECISION: - No, I will not ignore this problem. Any problem regarding safety can not be ignored.

SOLUTION: - I will plan a strategy to trace out the stock and will immediately contact the client to whom the stock has been delivered and would be honest with the client. I will bring the whole status of safety, under his knowledge and further I will give a notice regarding failure of safety tests in the newspaper, podcast informing customers not to use the product as it can be hazardous and inviting them for free replacement.

I will sincerely inform the client that out of 200 tests performed on the USB flash memory drives, 3 tests of the power consumption failed with the potential to be a fire hazard. I will sincerely apologize as the stock delivered has not passed all the safety tests. I will ask him to return the stock to meet the safety standards, if possible. But, it will not be possible if the stock would have been sent to the distributors and already sold to the client.

Ethically also, it is my duty to rectify my mistake. I will definitely take certain substantial action because if at all I don’t take any action and ignore this considering it as a small percentage as suggested by my supervisor, than, first of all it is not feasible on humanitarian grounds as it can cause fire actions. Also, such accidents will earn a bad name for my company and this hurts the goodwill of the company. I believe it is inhuman on mine or anybody’s part to hide such a critical problem and keep it to ourselves, when we are well aware that such negligence can get converted into big accidents. These small mistakes can rather be hazardous to number of innocent lives and can cause a huge damage. I, as a human, always trust my inner instincts and analyze each and every situation, considering myself and my family. I introspect myself that how would I feel if any accident or mishappening occurs to me or my family due to someone else’s negligence and I get an immediate answer. This is the moment when I know what to do under such circumstances.

I remember some years ago, I had a similar experience when i purchased a USB flash drive which started to overheat and occasionally my computer would not recognize it,and almost to the point of burning my fingers, which resulted to the USB flash plastic case enclosed burning and resulting in burning my laptop.Fortunately, i lost vital information in my USB flash memory drive and my laptop been damaged severely.

Again, if any customer meets with an accident, he can take legal actions against the company. They can report to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of death or serious injury for more than 15,000 types of consumer products under agency’s jurisdiction. CPSC can take legal actions against the employer as well as me, because I am responsible for reviewing the reports of safety tests performed on the stock. They can also impose financial penalty on the company.