Real-Life Decision Making
Before completing the last inspection of your shift, you take a 15-minute
break. It's important that you stay alert. Mistakes could cost a lot
of money -- or even people's lives.
As you make your rounds, you detect an odd sound coming from a pipe. Instead
of the healthy humming noise the pipe usually makes, it sounds
like gravel is traveling through it.
After doing some tests, you decide a faulty valve may be responsible. You
suspect the rattling sound is caused by the flashing and cavitation of the
liquid inside the pipe. Flashing occurs when high pressure causes bubbles
to form in liquids. Cavitation is what happens when the pressure returns to
normal and the bubbles burst.
This is a serious problem. If the valve fails, the plant could automatically
shut down -- costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per minute. You really
don't want it to come to that. Plus, you feel guilty. Why didn't
you catch the problem earlier?
You work feverishly to solve the valve problem, but you're not making
any headway. You wonder if you should bring the matter to your manager's
attention.
Do you want to disclose the problem, risking the possibility that others
may hold you responsible? Or do you want to keep trying to repair the instrument?
What do you do?