All experts say it's best to be prepared regardless of the eventual outcome. But complacency is now a concern among some Y2K experts. The lack of interest among EHS people in northwest Ohio mirrors attitudes nationally. On the same day in September that the safety council should have held its Y2K meeting, USA Today ran a special report on what the experts really think will happen when the Y2K bug hits. USA Today reported that the prevailing attitude in the United States is that Y2K is not a problem.
Attitudes primarily result from the self-assessments of businesses.
Thus, there's reason not to be over- confident. Reliability of the Y2K data must be considered. Also, large businesses that had the resources to attack the problem early on are most likely to report Y2K readiness. Putting this all together, maybe we shouldn't be so optimistic that Y2K will just be a momentary bump in the road. Dan is an independent environmental health and safety consultant.