I read in !emc-pstc that [email protected] wrote (in <125.99b6ace.296 [email protected]>) about 'EMC-related safety issues', on Wed, 2 Jan 2002: > I understand that under European Product Liability law (and I suspect in > US > product liability law too) evidence of a historical lack of safety > problems > is not considered sufficient proof that a design is as safe as people > generally have the right to expect.
This is another aspect of the 'culture of blame' that has grown up. Something operates without any problem for five years in the field. Suddenly, it is blamed for some incident. Obviously, then the manufacturer must have been negligent, indeed criminally negligent. He should have foreseen every possible scenario, including 'foreseeable misuse', and what is not 'foreseeable' with the 20-20 vision of hindsight? Is it foreseeable that someone gets their PDA wet and tries to dry it in a microwave oven, causing the battery to explode? Undoubtedly, because I have just foreseen it. OK, from this instant, all PDAs have to be redesigned to eliminate this hazard. Oh, and recall all products in the field, too! Or will yet another warning label be sufficient? In all official languages of the EU, of course. Where is the burden of proof of responsibility to be tested in such a case? It could well be in a TV interview, I suspect, not a courtroom. We had such cases in the 1970s, where TV sets were blamed by fire officers for house fires within a few hours of the incidents, long before any forensic investigation had determined the real cause. -- Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk After swimming across the Hellespont, I felt like a Hero. ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Michael Garretson: [email protected] Dave Heald [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old messages are imported into the new server.
