Our crumbling infrastructure, Part CXVII
Brad Thompson, Contributing technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 7/1/2006
Living on a gravel road and near the end of our utility company's power line, we've grown resigned, but not accustomed, to interruptions of our electricity supply. Aside from the occasional gray squirrel that attempts to bridge an insulator, most failures occur when a tree or limb falls across a power line. From casual observation, I'd estimate that our utility does not spend enough time and money trimming trees that abut its lines.
Whether you call it deferred maintenance or neglected infrastructure, chances are you'll encounter examples every day—crumbling highway pavement, faded lane marker lines, broken test probes...test probes? Ever watch a technician use a test lead—sans its probe—to check a power-supply voltage? I have, and while the tech is still around, the company isn't.
You decide whether failure to maintain test leads and equipment can cause a company's demise, or merely hint at parsimonious management. While you're at it, walk through your work area and look for these telltale signs of infrastructure decay:
- damaged or broken test leads, probes, and connectors;
- power cables with frayed insulation and missing third-wire grounds;
- test equipment shelved due to malfunctions or missing parts;
- fingertip grunge deposits on instruments and keyboards;
- data-acquisition systems in need of operating-system backup;
- absent or out-of-date antivirus software for lab PCs;
- antistatic benchtops and floors that need recertification;
- broken chairs and workbench stools;
- empty or unlabeled bins in supply cabinets; and
- uncalibrated or out-of-calibration instruments.
You can alter or expand the list to suit your work environment, but the last point deserves amplification. Writing in Test & Measurement World's May 2006 issue, Martin Rowe reported that the next version of the NCSLI's Recommended Practice document would include a discussion of data-retention requirements. Corporate lawyers are advocating the destruction of calibration data and other proof-of-quality information that might have significance in product liability trials.
Those of us who work in quality assurance and measurement devote our efforts toward finding truth. According to the lawyers, defending truth costs money, and the risk of losing money trumps both truth and the value of a robust infrastructure to society. So, the next time your AC power fails, go ahead and take out your frustration over our crumbling infrastructure by swinging an axe at a tree—but not at a lawyer. And never ask a lawyer to measure high voltage with a broken test lead.
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