Response to case study scenario 1

Given the nature of failure of the USB flash drives which now pose a potential fire hazard I would not ignore the problem as instructed to do so, this is because I personally would not feel comfortable using one of these USB pens myself and therefore ethically and morally would not feel I could just ignore the problem in case injury or damage was caused and as an engineer working within the ‘safety testing group’ I have a duty of care to customers and the general public.

The first and immediate action that I would take having been instructed to ignore the problem by my manager would be to contact my Union Representative for some advice and guidance on escalating my concerns within the company as I would want to ensure that there are no repercussions for my actions and that I stay within any legal boundaries. Having consulted my Union representative and understood my position I will then escalate my concerns about the situation immediately to either the Quality Control Manager or another manager of suitable authority and explain that we would be held liable for any damage or harm caused from the faulty products and suggest that an immediate recall be placed on the affected batch sent to the customer.

The recall procedure I would suggest is that the customer be contacted to identify if the entire batch is still held or whether it has been distributed to resellers already, if the product is still held by the customer the stock would be recalled and replaced with new stock. However if the product has already been distributed to resellers, I would ask the customer for the contact information of each reseller involved and conduct the recall with them directly. If at anytime time during either recall method the stock cannot be accounted for or there is uncertainty about whether it has been distributed further I would issue a public product recall using available channels like a press campaign.

I would also suggest that our procedures and policies be adjusted to require safety testing and evaluation to be concluded before any product is shipped to prevent scenarios like this occurring again and to ensure the company doesn’t leave itself liable.

The reasons I would take this action is that ethically I believe the problem should not be ignored and legally under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 – a company/producer shall not place a product to market that is not deemed safe and has an obligation to notify competent authorities of the fact and what action is being taken to remove the risk. Therefore by not acting the company and I are not following legislation that is laid out and are vulnerable to prosecution and are liable for any incidents that occur. Legally it is in the company’s best interest to notify the customer of the potential safety risk and recall the affected batch to avoid any problems and/or liability.

Whilst legally obligated to act on the problem it is also in the company’s best interest, as should a problem occur it has the potential to
• Tarnish the company’s reputation
• Stop future business from the customer(s)
• Have significant financial impact on the business
• Incur liability for a known safety risk
• Cause damage and/or serious harm

All of the above from a commercial and managerial position could have a potentially devastating effect on the company and its business, therefore the financial cost of recalling the affected batch is far less than the alternative which has the potential to cause loss of life and have a negative impact on the companys reputation and business.

With the above information in mind I feel that it would be inexcusable from a moral, ethical and legal point to ignore the hazardous situation at hand, which is why I chose to escalate the response given by my manager.