Safe product design, forensic engineering, and Asimov's Laws of Robotics

The increasing number of suits filed each year in courts arising from personal injuries while using consumer products indicates safety in design needs immediate evaluation. Human Factors engineers can make a great contribution in this area, especially by working more closely with traditional approaches to product design. Many engineers who are responsible for design, testing, and quality control have not had the benefit of training in ergonomics and psychology. As a result, many products sold in the marketplace today reflect too-high a risk acceptance for the ordinary consumer. This paper describes criteria for safe design of consumer products based on foreseeable and reasonable use of products. Sources of product standards relating to performance and safety are presented. Safe product design criteria based on risk, reliability, foreseeability, psychological considerations, and hazard warning are presented.

Download Full-text

Forensic Engineering Investigation into Factors Contributing to Explosion of a Consumer-Grade Tabletop Torch

Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers ◽

10.51501/jotnafe.v36i1.151 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jahan Rasty

Keyword(s):

Product Design ◽

Burn Injuries ◽

Severe Burn ◽

Root Cause ◽

Citronella Oil ◽

Severe Burn Injuries ◽

Forensic Engineering ◽

Engineering Investigation ◽

Perfect Storm

In early 2013, approximately 3,500 consumer-grade tabletop torches, designed for use with citronella oil to ward off insects, were sold by a retailer. Within six months of their debut, 22 of these products experi-enced sudden explosions, resulting in one fatality and 21 severe burn injuries to consumers. The author was retained as an expert in the fatal explosion case to determine the root cause(s) that led to these explosions. This paper will describe the detailed, experimental-based investigation that was carried out to reveal design, manufacturing, and marketing defects for which the designer of the torch, the manufacturer of the fuel, and the retailer of the final product were responsible. It was determined that the explosions occurred as a result of a “perfect storm” scenario that involved defective product design, defective marketing of the product through the sale of incompatible fuel by the retailer, and deficient warning instructions by the manufacturer.

Download Full-text

Safe product design – the role of the NDT reliability analysis

Materials Testing ◽

10.3139/120.110434 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 55 (4) ◽

pp. 270-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mato Pavlovic ◽

Christina Mueller ◽

Uwe Ewert ◽

Ulf Ronneteg ◽

Jorma Pitkänen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Product Design ◽

Reliability Analysis ◽

Safe Product

Download Full-text

Safe product design (Saf-D-Pro) certification scheme

Injury Prevention ◽

10.1136/ip.2010.029215.512 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 16 (Supplement 1) ◽

pp. A143-A143

Author(s):

G. Rider ◽

M. Inman ◽

E. Nielsen ◽

J. Reilly ◽

J. Vincenten ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Product Design ◽

Certification Scheme ◽

Safe Product

Download Full-text

Consumer Behavior Considerations in Product Design

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193128703101113 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 31 (11) ◽

pp. 1236-1240 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Joseph P. Ryan

Keyword(s):

Consumer Behavior ◽

Human Factors ◽

Product Design ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Consumer Products ◽

Consumer Product ◽

Valuable Source ◽

Product Use ◽

Risk Of Injury ◽

Safe Product

This paper has, as its primary objective, the provision of Guidelines for product designers to assist in safe design of consumer products. Presentation of the Guidelines is based on a Human Factors Perspective of consumer behavior in the reasonable and foreseeable use and mis-use of consumer products. The Guidelines for Safe Consumer Product Design included in this Paper emphasize the valuable source of Human Factors available to Designers. The paper concludes that safe product design can be planned and designed into products that will reduce the risk of injury, or even death, in product use.

Download Full-text