OSHA's Counterpart in Scotland (HSE): Embedded Systems - Factory Safety Risk
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So when is OSHA gonna do something about this???
Factory workers could be at risk because of the year 2000 computer date problem, it has emerged. Concerns about possible dangers posed to workers if computer-controlled equipment in factories does not recognise the year 2000 have been raised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which has commissioned a research project to find out more about the possible effects on computer-controlled machinery.
The year 2000 problem is a bug affecting many computer programs and microprocessors, which means they may not recognise 2000 as a valid date, and will instead take it to be 1900. The predicted consequences, ranging from expensive annoyance to global catastrophe, are creating headaches for companies and governments.
The HSE's fears demonstrate the far-reaching legal implications of the problem. The law says that "manufacturers must tell their customers if they know there is anything in their product which could cause a risk to health and safety" said Ron Bell, head of the HSE's Control Systems Unit.
That could mean that companies providing all sorts of computer-assisted services which may not be year 2000 compliant, and therefore a possible risk to health and safety, could face legal actions.
"The implications are far reaching many basic computer functions could fail," said Mr Bell. "HSE knows that there has been a lot of publicity aimed at users of commercial and business computer systems but so far information has not been targeted at computer systems which are used for safety.
"We are particularly concerned about small and medium-sized firms which do not have in-house IT expertise to deal with potential problems these firms may be unaware that their computer-controlled safety systems could be affected by the Y2K problem.
"Companies which rely on computers in systems where safety is an issue should start work immediately." The kind of systems the HSE is worried about are computerised machines, production lines and factory equipment.
Although most of these are designed to fail safe, the year 2000 problem brings about an element of unpredictability that needs to be resolved.
The research project, to be undertaken by Glasgow-based Real Time Engineering, will be published by HSE in December. Its aim is to show users how to identify vulnerable safety-related systems and develop a method for tackling the problem. Although the focus of the research is primarily on the Year 2000 issue, the HSE has also asked for some work on the potential for the systems to fail to recognise leap years.
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