Category Archives: Uncategorized

#363 – WHAT SHOULD I LEARN AS A RELIABILITY ENGINEER? – FRED SCHENKELBERG

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Ran across this question the other day from someone just starting in the role of reliability engineer. I wasn’t smart enough to ask this question when I started in the field, yet looking back I’m sure to have found the list of what one should learn and apply daunting.

You should learn how electronics fail. And this may involve:

  • design errors in specific component technologies.
  • assembly errors in specific component processes.
  • material and process variability.
  • environmental stress conditions.
  • use stress conditions.
  • software interactions with hardware.
  • and, the same range of topic at the subsystem and system level, too.

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#353 – IDENTIFYING ZONE 0, ZONE 1, AND ZONE 2 HAZARDOUS AREAS – BILL POMFRET PH.D.

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Hazardous area classification (HAC, formerly electrical area classification) impacts the design and operation of petroleum, chemical processes, and other industrial operations that utilize flammable materials in potentially ignitable atmospheric concentrations in air by requiring ignition source controls.

Uncontrolled ignition of in air can result in loss of life, property damage, business interruption, a negative impact on communities, and legal liabilities. There are numerous regulations used in a variety of industries to address hazardous area classification. Not only is it important to select the appropriate code, but the findings of the classification analysis need to be documented.   Continue reading →

#349 – DO VACCINE MANDATES WORK? – ALLEN TAYLOR

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Even as thousands of Americans die every day of Covid-19, many people resist being inoculated with a life-saving vaccine. In many cases this is due to misinformation circulating among people, and in other cases people fear getting a shot more than they fear dying of Covid-19. The people in the first category need to receive better information. Those in the second category need to have a better appreciation of the relative risks between getting the disease and having the vaccination that will protect them from it. Continue reading →

#343 – ISO 9001 CONTEXT AND IN THE REAL WORLD, WHAT DO WE DO? – JOHN MASON

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A classic question for all CEOs and floor sweepers alike.  What the heck do we do and what do we want to do?  In big business there is visioning, missioning, goal setting, target measuring, market analysis, focus groups, policy and much much more, more and more.  In small business, we offer far more than we would like to do, but in order to make ends meet, we take on more and more until we finally burn out or are lucky enough to realise a cash flow that will enable us to niche or focus on what we do and what we want to do.  Continue reading →

#343 – IMPROVE COVID RISK COMMUNICATIONS AND DECISION MAKING – ANNETTE DAVISON & IAN WRIGHT PH.D.

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Risk is the impact of uncertainty on achieving your objectives – the impact can be either positive or negative outcomes (ISO 31000). Governments have multiple objectives they have to meet – health and wellbeing, economic, environmental, ethical and so on. Each of these objectives essentially becomes a risk endpoint. The fundamental tenets of risk assessment are understanding the system (the context), understanding and assessing the risk (against your identified objectives), managing the risk and then monitoring whether the risk is actually controlled, and whether a further risk treatment needs to be applied.[1] Continue reading →