I recently raised concern about safety 13

[n3w9uy]

I recently raised concern to our department head about a potential control system flaw which could result in a product catching fire. We urgently called a meeting of peers and conducted a FMEA and Safety Analysis. The FMEA resulted in an RPN of 700. After this I was told to delete/shred all reference files and documents related to this analysis in the interest of protecting the company preemptively. The department head further explained that we would only report the corrective actions and would not give reason why to any executive members other than himself (for plausible deniability).

Questions: Is this a normal practice (I think not), and is the destruction of these documents approaching any legal boundaries? Should I comply with these requests or would I be incriminating myself?

 

[msquared48]

Consult a lawyer... ASAP.

If you do not make the right play here, it could, at the very least, cost you your license. But do not take my word for it. See a lawyer.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[IRstuff]

You are on the verge of destroying documents that would otherwise be required to be given up in a lawsuit. Should there be actual and multiple deaths, it could become a criminal negligence and you would be in the middle of it.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[JAE]

Ya, this sounds very bad. Shredding documents and not telling executive members about what happened appears to me to be wrong.

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[MacGyverS2000]

Someone asked you to shred documents that show a potentially life-ending product weakness... and your immediate thought wasn't to contact a lawyer?! Run, don't walk, to the nearest attorney and start asking questions.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[IRstuff]

A further consideration is whether you should, or want to, work for someone like that, particularly if you do have a PE, since you are obligated by law to protect public safety.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[MintJulep]

Sounds like a big mess that you're in.

Get a lawyer. Talk about whistle blower protections.

 

[JAE]

Everyone - I believe the issue here isn't that the questionable senior person asked to hide a flaw that exists.
They instead asked to hide a flaw that was noticed, reviewed, and corrected before anyone was put in an unsafe condition.

So the unethical behavior here is that they are hiding the fact that a problem was discovered, not that a problem exists....a significant difference.

It is still unethical either way.

The problem I see here is that the behavior of hiding a "Oh, we screwed up" fact is that this displays a lack of honesty and ownership of responsibility.
I believe you owe a significant level of honesty and openness to both your peers and your employers in your work.


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[monkeydog]

"The department head further explained that we would only report the corrective actions and would not give reason why to any executive members other than himself (for plausible deniability)."
Sounds like the department head is protecting himself from any exposure to the executives due to the error occurring on his watch.

 

Start documenting every action you take and every conversation, a la James Comey.

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts."

 

[JAE]

And thus also make up a few things to protect yourself as well!

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[MacGyverS2000]

Everyone - I believe the issue here isn't that the questionable senior person asked to hide a flaw that exists.
They instead asked to hide a flaw that was noticed, reviewed, and corrected before anyone was put in an unsafe condition.

I saw nothing in the OP's post that suggested this was before the product was introduced to market (though it could very well have been).

After this I was told to delete/shred all reference files and documents related to this analysis in the interest of protecting the company preemptively.

Perhaps its the OP's wording, but that reads as if the company knows they could get sued because of a failure and wants to ensure as little documentation exists about the failure being known. If that's the case, that doesn't end well for anyone involved.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[djhurayt]

another bit of advice for the OP, which he may have already determined on his own

I would not post another thing on this or any other site about this matter until you speak with a lawyer.

 

[JAE]

MacGyverS2000,
Here's the OP quote that I seemed to get the impression that the thing was fixed but the need for the fix was the thing to be hidden.
But you may be right that the product could have been already out there.

The department head further explained that we would only report the corrective actions and would not give reason why to any executive members...

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[BUGGAR]

In keeping with the above, do you also have a duty to inform others (us) of the products using this control system?

 

[HamburgerHelper]

I really think that you could be stripped of your PE license for these kind of shenanigans. I don't think there is anything you can do to win in this situation. There is no winning. You are just trying to not get burned. Talk to a lawyer.

If a company has a 30 day retention period on emails, they can't use that to allow evidence to disappear because the cost of storage is extremely cheap. It is near impossible to delete everything without raising red flags. It was shown that John Carmack was googling how to wipe a hard drive and had wiped a considerable portion of his drive in the Zenimax vs Occulus/Facebook lawsuit over stolen code. It becomes very difficult to show innocence after it looks like evidence has been destroyed. Your company should have liability insurance and destroying emails and documentation in my opinion only increases its liability.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.

 

[wayne440]

As others have indicated, you have already been "thrown under the bus"- your actions from this point on will only determine how extensive the damage will be.
IMHO, you should consult a lawyer familiar with professional and product liability issues right away. In your position, I would not "delete/shred" anything without a consensus from said lawyer.

 

[msquared48]

To take this one step further, I would at least consider reporting your boss to your state board. His ethics suck.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[CWB1]

The OP's in product design so its doubtful he or the dept head are licensed. The crux of the issue is whether or not the product has been released to the public or is still in development. If its still in development then covering screwups really isn't a big deal from a legal sense nor uncommon, some companies only document final successes not failures. Personally I prefer to document everything as lessons learned, but to each their own. If the product has been released to a customer then the proper thing for the OP to do is contact his employer's HR and legal depts asap for guidance. DO NOT DISCUSS SPECIFIC COMPANY MATTERS WITH A PRIVATE ATTORNEY UNTIL YOU CONTACT COMPANY COUNSEL AND ARE STILL DIRECTED TO DO SOMETHING UNETHICAL OR ILLEGAL. You must give your employer opportunity to resolve this issue internally or you are committing a pretty serious ethics violation yourself and may end up fired, blackballed, and possibly sued.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

DO NOT DISCUSS SPECIFIC COMPANY MATTERS WITH A PRIVATE ATTORNEY UNTIL YOU CONTACT COMPANY COUNSEL AND ARE STILL DIRECTED TO DO SOMETHING UNETHICAL OR ILLEGAL. You must give your employer opportunity to resolve this issue internally or you are committing a pretty serious ethics violation yourself and may end up fired, blackballed, and possibly sued.

No way, Jose! My job is to protect numero uno first, everyone else second. There's nothing wrong with getting advice from a licensed attorney BEFORE talking with company attorneys. Company attorneys are there to protect the company first, you second (if at all)... approaching them first without knowing your personal options may quickly back you into a corner you can't get out of.

And come on... you can discuss matters with a lawyer without violating ethics

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com