Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: Why do Americans get so little vacation time?
From: frank@rover.uchicago.edu (Frank - Hardware Hacker - Borger)
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 17:16:00 GMT
Reply-To: frank@rover.uchicago.edu
 <1992Aug12.193508.11810@cs.ucla.edu> <1992Aug18.082855.29594@dscomsf.desy.de>
Organization: Joint Center for Radiation Therapy
Keywords: work vacation
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <1992Aug18.082855.29594@dscomsf.desy.de>, Hallam@zeus02.desy.de writes...
>Unless Frank happens
>to be one of the designers of the instrument in question I see no particular
>reason to trust his assement of the relative skills of the inspector and
>himself.
> 
>Phill Hallam-Baker

	Hey, wait a second. 

	1/ I never said I was doing the mod to the machine in question.
	   In response to a failure reported from the field, THE DESIGNERS OF
	   THE INSTRUMENT IN QUESTION determined the need for and designed an
	   ECO to the instrument.

	2/ A field service engineer performed the installation of the ECO,
	   not myself. Said installation included an operations check to
	   determine that the interlock modification was performing correctly.

	3/ As part of my job, I observed the operation and made sure that I
	   understood what was being done, and why, but did not second-guess
	   the designer and ask, "Why did you do the mod this way?" As long
	   as I saw a reasonable solution to the problem, even though I might
	   have done things a different way, I felt confident in the quality
	   of the ECO.

	4/ The only person who questioned the ECO was the FDA investigator. He
	   was the one who wanted to know why the manufacturer did it their way,
	   not me. (This is after the manufacturer had cleared the ECO with the
	   FDA, by the way.)

	5/ As reported, the problem stated in part that current welding of the
	   contacts of a relay contributed to the problem. The FDA investigator
	   said to me, "According to the bulletin, they replaced the relay with
	   a solid state version, and that solved the problem." This told me
	   two things about the investigator.

		A/ The investigator had never read the bulletin enough to under-
		   stand the problem, because the solid-state relay was added
		   in parallel to the existing interlock system, not as a re-
		   placement. (I find this typical of many goverment regulation
		   agencies. They are so short-handed that even good people do
		   not have enough time to properly do their work.)

		B/ Anyone with experience in the field has seen cases where
		   solid state relays have shorted due to overload currents,
		   just like their mechanical bretheren. The inspector's impli-
		   cation that solid-state relays can't short out demonstrated
		   to me that he did not have as much hands-on experience with
		   as I would have liked. (The term naive might be appropriate.)
		   I ask what conclusion you would have drawn.

	In closing, I must strongly object to you portrayal of me as a "Damn the
	regulations, I'm doing it my way..." operator. I'm not. I've long ago
	learned that you have scrupulously adhere to a rigorous Quality Assur-
	ance program if you want things done right. Any equipment modification
	is a task not to be taken lightly. (Currently our unit has a committee
	which must agree to the need for any changes and ok them.)


   Frank R. Borger - Physicist    __       Internet:  Frank@rover.uchicago.edu
Michael Reese - Univ. of Chicago |___      Phone : 312-791-8075 fax : 567-7455
  Center for Radiation Therapy   | |_) _   
    2929 South Ellis Avenue        | \|_)  If God had meant us to have group sex
    Chicago, Illinois 60616           |_)  he would have given us more organs.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa