> From: "Knighten, Jim" <[email protected]> > To: "'emc-pstc list server'" <[email protected]> > Subject: Looking for Horror Stories > Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 16:24:39 -0700 > Reply-to: "Knighten, Jim" <[email protected]>
> To All: > > My management is drafting an "educational" briefing for higher > management on the degree of seriousness of regulatory compliance > (primarily aimed at EMC). > > I would appreciate your sharing with me any tales of woe, penalties, > incarceration, or any other horror stories related to companies who > have either inadvertently not complied with the regulations, or who > have been deliberately lax in doing so. Again, EMC is more my > interest. > > Thank you, > > Jim > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---- --------------------------- Dr. Jim Knighten NCR 17095 Via del > Campo San Diego, CA 92127 Telephone: 619-485-2537 Fax: 619-485-3788 > e-mail: [email protected] Dear Jim - I'd like to add the suggestion that you consider widening your "little scope of horrors" to those critical issues which arise in the field when devices are not designed for their EM environments. I realize that this may be a motherhood, but consider the *direct warranty and goodwill costs* of troubleshooting "weird" field problems which are eventually traced to ESD, EFT, surge, or other EMC issues. Consider also the special joy attendant with intermittent field failures. Say at a group of bank cash machines. Or, my personal favourite, the "we can't ring up your bank machine purchase, sir/ma'am; the system keeps going down. We don't understand why, since the one in the store next door works fine..." So, the regulatory horror stories (jail, impounded shipments, fines, formal or informal blacklisting, etc. ad nauseam) are only one part of the picture. TWA 800-type incidents are another. Certainly, risk management, for warranty costs, goodwill, product performance, reliability and robustness, as well as safety, is really the key - ultimately, money talks. Call if you want more of a brain dump than this. My coordinates are below. All best regards, Kate MacLean PS - oh, and add to all of that some little issues of Section 255 of the Telecom act, if your devices are ever technically telecom...it is not at all nice to make hearing aids buzz... ___________________________________________________________ Kathy M. MacLean, President APREL Laboratories "Research-Training-Consulting-Testing Wireless-EMC-Acoustics-Health & Safety/SAR" 51 Spectrum Way, Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2R 1E6 Tel (613) 820-2730; Fax (613) 820-4161; Cell (613) 791-3777 email [email protected] http://www.aprel.com
