ENG 1430

Design for X: Failure and Safety

Thursday, Mar. 14, 2024

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Objective

• By the end of today’s class, you will be able to:

• Give examples of engineering failures

• Calculate a Risk Priority Number for FMEA
• Recommend safety considerations in engineering design

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Agenda

• FMEA
• Safety Definitions
• Safety in Project 2
• Engineering Failures

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How do Engineers Fail?

• Knowingly doing the wrong thing

• BIG mistake; ethical wrongdoing
• Failure to gather the right data
• Wrong priority
• Solving the wrong problem
• Poor calculations
• Not acting when they should

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Hazard Analysis Procedures (Identifying Failure Points)

• To identify and mitigate risks, some strategies

may be employed:
• Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
• Fault tree analysis
• Risk score analysis
• Task analysis

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Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

• FMEA: Method to systematically identify and

correct potential product or process
deficiencies before they occur
• Eliminate the causes of the potential failure
modes and/or reduce the severity of the
failure (ex. Crack progression identified
rather than immediate breakage); Mitigation
Strategies
• “Measure” risk with a Risk Priority Number

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Measuring the Risk of a Failure Mode

• Risk Priority Number (RPN): a rating for each

mode of failure

𝑅𝑃𝑁 = 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑂𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔

= 𝑆𝑂𝐷

• S, O, D rated from 1-10

• RPN will range from 1 (low risk) to 1000 (high
risk)

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Severity Rating (S) – How severe is the failure?

Severity (S)
Rating Type of effects Description
Causes injury to people, property and or the
10 Catastrophic Example:
environment
Causes damage to product, property or Phone
9 Extremely Harmful
environment update
8 Very Harmful Causes damage to product causing
7 Harmful Major degradation of function random
6 Moderate Causes partial malfunction of product restarts every
5 Significant Performance loss causes customer complaints 2-4 hours
4 Annoying Loss of function is annoying, cannot be overcome
3 Minor Some loss of performance, but can be overcome S~4
2 Insignificant Very little function degradation
1 None No noticeable effects in function or harm to others

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Occurrence Rating (O) – How often is the failure likely to occur?

Occurence (O)
Rating Likelihood Description
10 Expected >30 % > One per day Example:
9 Very likely 30 % (3 per 10) Phone
8 Probable 5 % (5 per 100) One per week update
7 Occasional 1 % ( 1 per 100) One per month causing
6 More plausible 0.3 % (3 per 1,000) One per three months random
5 Plausible restarts every
5
4 Remote 0.006 % (6 per 10 ) One per year 2-4 hours
7
3 Unlikely 0.00006 % (6 per 10 ) One per three years
2 Very unlikely
9 O ~ 10
1 Improbable < 2 per 10 events > five years per failure

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Detection Rating (D) – How easy is the fault to detect before failure?
Detection (D)
Rating Detectability Description
10 Impossible Impossible to detect, or no inspection Example:
9 Very rare Phone
8 Rare update
7 Possible Some chance of detecting, or 50% inspection causing
6 Quite possible random
5 Somewhat likely restarts
4 Likely Quite likely to detect, or 75% inspection every 2-4
3 Quite likely hours
2 Almost certain
1 Certain Will be detected, or 100% inspection D~6

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FMEA Table (often in engineering design reports)

Severity (S) Occurrence (O) Detection (D)

S O controls D Recommended
Failure mode Effects Rating Causes Rating tests Rating RPN Action
Random restart 3 10 6 180 Mitigate risk:
revert to the
previous
software
version.
Reduce
severity:
Factory reset.

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FMEA Steps

1. Identify failure modes (how can things fail?)

2. Evaluate the effects on the system
3. Define and prioritize actions to correct the
problems
• Prioritize the problem items (RPN = SOD)
• Define action items
4. Track corrective actions (mitigation strategies)
and their effects – did the changes work?
• Assign responsibility and monitor
5. Document the entire decision process

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General Guidelines for Safe Products & Systems

• Perform appropriate analyses (FMEA, fault tree,

risk score, etc.)
• Comply with published standards
• Use state-of-the-art technology
• Include reasonable safety features or devices
• Consider how the user might misuse the
product
• Consider hidden dangers that might surprise
the user

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General Guidelines for Safe Products & Systems (cont’d)

• Consider variations in materials or manufacturing

processes, or effects of wear
• Carry out appropriate testing and interpret
results correctly
• Provide adequate warnings
• Implement superior quality control
• Document everything

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Safety Definitions

• Fail-Safe Design: to ensure that a product failure will not

result in damage to people, the product itself, or the
environment

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Safety Definitions – Fail-Safe Types

• Fail-Passive Design: reduces the product to its lowest

level of energy so product cannot operate until
corrective action is taken
• Fail-Active Design: the product remains energized
but in a safe mode until corrective action is taken
• Fail-Operational Design: product continues to
operate with reasonable safety until corrective action
is possible

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Safety Definitions

• Emergency Shut-Off Devices: allows the

immediate stopping of a machine once a person,
or other foreign objects, becomes caught by the
machine
• Engineering Controls: passive measures designed
into the work environment to prevent contact
with potential hazards.
• Administrative Controls: attempt to minimize
exposure, implement proper housekeeping
practices, and devise appropriate worker training.

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Take-Away

Make it easier to do
the RIGHT thing (the SAFE thing)
than to do the WRONG thing.

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Safety in Project 2

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Reliability - Rubric

• “Reliability: The system functions consistently

without breakdown or errors. Consideration of
fail-safe mechanisms was given in the case of
technical issues.”

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What are some potential failure points in your system?

• Hardware errors
• Sensor failure?
• Loose wire?
• Environmental factors
• Clog in the line?
• Displaced hardware?
• Leak?

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How might you design for reliability in your project?

• Failure Minimization: minimize the consequences

of failure using four methods:
• Monitoring devices
If you cannot build
• Warning devices your safety
• Safety factors and margins mechanism, what
recommendations
• Failure rate reduction can you make?

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Engineering Failures

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Engineering Failures

• Protecting the public is an engineer’s primary

responsibility.
• Learning from past failures ensures we do not
make the same mistakes twice.
• System of checks and balances exists in the
profession to reduce risk of catastrophic failures
• Standards, codes, bylaws, multi-level review
process

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Quebec Bridge Collapse (1907, 1916)

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Quebec Bridge Collapse

• August 29, 1907

• Quebec City, Canada
• Cause:
• Misalignment in fastener locations –
forced into place, causing
deformation (bending)
• Calculation errors and overlooked
onsite concerns
• Result: 75 worker fatalities, 11 injured

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Quebec Bridge Collapse – Episode 2

• September 11, 1916

• Quebec City, Canada
• Cause:
• Material failure
• Chief engineer alerted of the
issue 6 weeks before the
incident but no action taken.
• Result: 13 worker fatalities

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Quebec Bridge Today

• August 1919 completed and remains today – major

access car/pedestrian/cyclist access across St.
Lawrence River

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Greater Winnipeg Water District Aqueduct

(1913 – Present)

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GWWD

• Winnipeg in need of clean drinking water

• Previously, water taken from Assiniboine river
(river contamination & Typhoid outbreaks)
• Then artesian wells were constructed (mineral-
heavy water & inconsistent yield)

• 1912: Engineers identified Shoal Lake for its soft

water and elevated position from Winnipeg (91 m
higher)

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Aqueduct Facts

• Aqueduct construction
began: 1914
• 154 km from Shoal Lake
to Deacon Reservoir
• Original Ojibwa village
of Shoal Lake 40 First
Nation was displaced
and moved to a man-
made island

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Results

• For much of the 20th century, this project was seen as an

engineering “success”
• Good water quality, structural integrity, economic
consideration for Winnipeg residents, work done in 3 years

• In reality: Shoal Lake 40 First Nation and the nearby

Iskatewizaagegan #39 Independent First Nation suffered:
• Cultural, spiritual, and financial damage

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Results

• Furthermore:
• Shoal Lake 40 under boil water advisory from 1997 – 2017
• No road to community: this restricted access to move supplies
and build water treatment facility locally, on top of daily
challenges of transport

• Engineering failure – design decisions made in violation of human

rights

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Today

• 2017 (almost 100 years since aqueduct built): Freedom road

constructed to ease community access to mainland
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The Legend of the Iron Ring

• When you complete an engineering degree in

Canada, you are awarded an Iron Ring at an
official ceremony
• Worn on the little finger of your dominant
hand Serves as a
• Symbol of a Canadian accredited engineer reminder of our
• Legend has it that the iron used in the rings was ethical
forged from the steel of the collapsed Quebec responsibility
bridge to signify the weight and responsibility of in the
the profession. profession
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Take-Away

An Engineer’s responsibility is to protect the public.

Prioritize public safety and ethical responsibility in

engineering design.

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References and Further Reading

GWWD:
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/win
nipeg-aqueduct-shoal-lake-100-years-1.5152678
• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fed
uc.2023.1177035/full

Quebec Bridge Collapse

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4DTMe0hu
XM