Response to case study scenario 1

I would 100% take further action on this problem.
I would approach my supervisor and tell him i was not happy to ignore the problem. If he did not further this, i would see his supervisor and continue up the chain as that is why a company has a management chain, like the Navy i am in. I am responsible for ensuring i am doing my job correctly which i wouldn't be if i ignored this failure rate, 3 out of 200 is a lot in my opinion and it would be cost effective to solve the issue before it spread exponentially which would damage the company financially or a life was taken due to my ignorance. The fact it is safety critical as well means there is no other option. If it was a non safety error of this margin to a giant company like apple, then the figures and risk associated with this would not warrant a recall/bad publicity as they can recover from this with media and reputation. However anything safety critical is important to me and to any company and has to be dealt with, all my maintenance on my submarine requires completion but the safety critical items require me to complete to the day, sometimes even the hour. They cannot be missed for any reasons whatsoever. This to me is the same as a safety element on these USB drives.

From my past experience as a junior engineer, I was working on a nuclear submarine in dry dock commissioning engineering systems. I had to oversee the contractors and sign off on safety steps in the testing process. I was called by a contractor to witness a pressure test which involved watching a valve for 13 mins making sure the hydraulic pressure did not fall from the hand guage. When I arrived they said they had already had it locked off for 10 mins so I would only need 3 mins of my time. However as my duty to the Navy to ensure these systems would be safe in the future, so I waited for 13 mins and the pressure dropped 1 bar in the last minute. Now that was not a lot at all however the system test clearly states no drop. The contractor got quite aggressive to get my signature but I reported the safety fault, no matter how insignificant my contractor thought it was and didn’t sign it off. This cost the company a bonus payment for completion of hydraulics commissioning but I reported it as I had a duty to the navy for future capability of its submarine and safety of that valve along with a legal obligation as my signature would be saying that valve was 100% operational and also to the public for nuclear safety.

IEEE hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree:
1. to accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;

This backs up my decision as you can see i have to report this error along with the company, as it could have possible legal consequences. Financial consequences would only be short term, as i would demand the company put a stringent test line together and/or specific guidelines on what should be done by the employees for a certain percentage of fails, i.e my computer systems onboard my submarine only get reported for crashing if it is more than 4 times in a week. This is clear and does not put any added pressure on the employee, if its more than 4, report it!