NEW SPRING QUARTER COURSE



SPRING QUARTER COURSE 2009

The Role of Product Safety and Liability in Engineering Design

ME 498R/ME 599J, 3CR

T TH 1:30-2:50, MEB 245

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will introduce the role of products liability in the design of engineering products. Because U.S. industry is often driven by fear of losing major products liability lawsuits, it is increasingly important for graduate engineers to have an understanding of products liability and how the interaction between engineering and legal systems affects the design process.

The course will consist of a mixture of regular lectures by the course instructors, guest lectures by industry and legal experts, and case studies illustrating failures of a wide range of products from all fields of engineering. It will involve the application of multiple disciplines to analysis of intriguing failures of actual products and systems, and consideration of the benefits and consequences of alternate designs.

COURSE TOPICS

Designing, testing, and manufacturing for safety

Products liability litigation and the law

Evaluation of product design

Failure analysis techniques

Design of warnings and instructions

Evaluation of defects

System safety engineering

Human factors engineering

Risk assessment

Warnings and instructions

Guarding

The product in the field

The role of the forensic engineer

Packaging

Forseeability

Defects

Regulatory and voluntary standards, the role of regulation

Liability prevention programs

Product liability insurance

Patents and intellectual property

Records retention policies

The course will be multidisciplinary in nature and therefore has no specific prerequisites other than senior/graduate standing (or permission from the instructor). Class activities will be project-oriented and relevant to current events.

Instructors: Prof. Robert Scheibe, GT Engineering, (425) 556-5555, scheibe@u.washington.edu , and Prof. Per Reinhall, MEB 307, 543-5628, reinhall@u.washington.edu

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download