Additional Thoughts on Risk
SB7 has some good observations about risk:
I was listening to the WSJ radio podcast while getting some dinner ready, and one of their reporters said, in the context of discussing Fukushima, that some of the engineers at the plant "knew there was a risk" in the plant's older design and could conceivably face charges for not doing something about said risk.
This kind of talk really grinds my gears. In any engineering situation there is always some risk. You can have less risk, or more risk, but risk is not something you either have or do not have.
I will go one step further. This ex post facto witch hunt aimed at folks who discussed risks (an pogrom that occurs in nearly every product liability lawsuit with fishing expeditions through company memos) is the WORST possible thing for consumers concerned about the safety of their products and environment. Engineers have to feel free to express safety concerns within organizations no matter how hypothetical these suppositions may be.
Some concerns will turn out to be unfounded. Some suggested risks will be deemed too small to economically overcome. And some will turn out to be substantial and require action. And sometimes well-intentioned people will make what is, in retrospect, the wrong trade-offs with risks. These witch hunts only tend to suppress this very valuable and necessary internal dialog within organizations. Nothing is going to turn the brains of engineers off faster than an incentive system that punishes them retroactively for well-intentioned discussions about risk.
