Hi Scott:
Welcome to the world of jawboning. "Jawboning" is the Nixon-era activity of government officials speaking as if a law was in place governing a specific activity when, in fact, there was none. Some engineers and managers from third-party safety certification organizations practice jawboning. They feel a need to answer the question whether or not they have the true answer. The answer will always be conservative -- meaning that if you perform per their request, the product will be acceptable. Which often means that you will need to do something that, in the absence of a thorough understanding of the requirement, you need not do. When a certification engineer states a requirement (for something that might cost you time and money), always request that he cite the standard and clause/paragraph where it is written. You need to decide whether the requirement applies to your particular situation. Don't take the certification engineer's word. Fortunately, this practice has dramatically diminished as competition has been allowed. So, too, has the practice of not-earning-your-money-if-you-can't-find-anything-wrong with the client's product. Pockets of these attitudes still exist, so beware. As a matter of practice, never take the certification engineer's word. Always check the actual requirement. If you don't have the standard, ask the cert-engineer to make a copy of the page containing the requirement. This also goes for unacceptable test results. If the cert- engineer says it failed a test, you should reproduce the failure in your own lab. Without understanding the product, it is not uncommon for the cert-house to mis-apply a test. Kinda like counting your change... Best regards, Rich ------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Nute Quality Department Hewlett-Packard Company Product Regulations Group San Diego Division (SDD) Tel : 619 655 3329 16399 West Bernardo Drive FAX : 619 655 4979 San Diego, California 92127 e-mail: [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------- "The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right." -- Jill Ruckelshaus
