ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book illustrates the seriousness of design defects only too clearly: the costs in terms of lives and money can be alarmingly high. It is concerned with design defect, which is perhaps the principal source of product failure, bearing in mind that it can have a significant influence on the other two factors. The need to manage safety in product design is clear and what follows is the outline of a course to achieve that end. The book reviews the four key elements of the strategy: Identify the product risks, Risk reduction programme, Risk transfer programme, and Risk retention programme. The claim 'guaranteed 100 per cent pure' gives no benchmark against which the purity has been measured, nor does it specify the quantity which is claimed to be pure. The strategy follows classic risk management principles, applied to a special requirement.
