Response to case study scenario 1

The problem is not to be ignored, 1.5% is an unacceptable failure rate for a product such as this, I will firstly
express my Concerns further to my Supervisor giving him the opportunity to re-review the reported results, if he
still intends to ignore the problem I will call an imediate meeting with his superiors insisting on a complete
recall on the order, advising the customer to cease use immediately pending further investigation into the issue.

We have a duty of care over our clients and are expected to ensure that legitimate use of our products can be done
safely to fulfill even the minimum of safety requirements. USB memory Sticks are not the most expensive items in
the world and the financial Loss envolved with a recall does not come close to the potential Injury or Legal
conflict that would arise with any resulting negligence claim.

As an engineer within this department I feel it is my responsibility to ensure my findings and any concerns are
heard and that appropriate action is taken to prevent any further risk. Without insisting on a recall now I would
not only be allowing the reputation of the company but the future of my career and possibly our customers lives to
be put in danger as well. None of these are risks that I am willing to take or be happy to allow.

With the nature of the failure, we can only assume a worst case scenario, were lives could be lost. Something as
simple as forgetting to remove the memory stick from a home PC before going to work could result in a small fire
that spreads to engulf the rest of the house taking the lives of the family or anyone else inside. This would
result in a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire and the steps that could have been taken to prevent
it. The results of the investigation would show that the devices failed power consumption testing but were still
allowed to be sold.

The Damage to our reputation and the reputation of our clients would most certainly result in the potential loss of
millions in lost custom and it would take years to rebuild the trust lost with our ignorance regarding this
incident. My personal reputatuion and ability, and those of the management would also be questioned, more than
likely leading to job losses and mandatory resignations. As I am currently only a Junior engineer I think this
would unfairly blemish my career, the emotional distress that would also be caused by knowing that I could have
prevented such an incident would also give me great discomfort and further hinder my efforts at being successful in
my chosen career path.

A complete product recall of the product and formal apology to the customer would convey a clear message that we
are a responsible company that takes our production and testing very seriously. An internal investigation into how
and why these items failed should be conducted so as to prevent any further items being produced with the same
problems preventing any possible repeat of these failures. Producing a report on this recall will show our customers that we are willing to act on our findings early and before any incidents occur and that we believe user safety is paramount at any cost, this will help build a trusting relationship with our clients and hopefully bring more larger orders our way. My personal status as an engineer may be marked slighlty by such a large recall but it would also noted by the fact that I am fullfilling my Job description and advising on product safety