There will be more “accidents”

In these days of supply chain interruptions, worker shortages, high employee turnover, and unhappy customers, I can readily imagine this conversation between a maintenance worker and their boss.

“Boss, I can’t tell whether the Whoojit is really bad, or if it’s the Whoojit failure indicator that’s bad. I’ve tested it as best I can, and it looks OK.”

“Sam, what does ‘the book’ say to do?”

“Boss, the book says to replace the Whoojit, but we don’t have any replacement Whoojits. They’ve been on backorder for weeks.”

“Sam, what does the book say to do if we can’t replace the Whoojit?”

“Boss, the book says to take the (locomotive/aircraft/bus) out of service. But getting a replacement fired up will delay departure by an hour, and the customers are probably already screaming at our gate agents. You know how crazy they get when departures are delayed.”

“Sam, the Whoojit is probably good anyway. Screw it; retighten the bolts, reassemble the cover, and get this thing to the gate.”

I’m pretty surprised that more buses haven’t gone off the roads, more trains haven’t jumped off the tracks, and more planes haven’t fallen from the sky. It seems to happen with greater frequency in less developed countries, and we American’s believe it won’t happen here, because we have better equipment, more stringent maintenance inspections, and tighter safety rules.

Except, now the inspectors who did things “the right way” have retired or quit;?nobody wants to be a repair technician; the parts aren’t available; and customers assault employees when flights are delayed.

What should we do about it?