Instead these bills protect from such liability those responsible for Y2K failures. Without electricity, little in today's society will work, so Y2K failures in the power grid could lead to a variety of health, safety and economic losses. Electric power is a highly automated industry, relying on Y2K-vulnerable software in its mainframes, servers, PC's and communications systems, as well as in embedded chips which are used extensively in all parts of the electric power industry. In addition to regional blackouts caused by failures at power production facilities, the interconnectedness of the electric power system could mean that a generation plant failure in Maine could cause power outages in Florida. Instead of six more years of shelf life, the computer calculated that the food was ninety-six years old and ordered it thrown out.
Processors rely on automated systems that help prepare and package consumer-ready products.
Distributors, wholesalers, and retailers depend on computer-driven equipment to fork chain can result in a direct loss to those who supply food, likely translating into food shortages and price increases. Y2K malfunctions could make impossible the conversion, storage or analysis of medical images, perfusion calculations for cardiopulmonary bypasses, and data from pacemakers, EEG's, or bone densitometry. In terms of medical devices, the domino effect means that the failure of one biomedical device could shut down an entire operating room. Worse, one device could pass erroneous information on to hundreds of other devices, impacting patients. Medication errors could result from physician orders being mistimed.