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Mechanical Engineering: Product Manufacturing and Safety
Disclaimer: The Lichtenberger Engineering Library is not a legal entity and no one on staff is a lawyer. The following information is purely for helping you learn about laws, regulations, standards, and product liability. If you need legal assistance, please consult a licensed lawyer.
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- Engineering Ethics Library GuideEngineering has a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people. Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require honest, impartiality, fairness and equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety and welfare. Engineers must perform under a standard of professional behavior which requires adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct.
- Engineering Case Studies OnlineThe goal of Engineering Case Studies Online is to dramatically improve teaching and research by providing a single, comprehensive source for a wide range of video and text material focusing on engineering failures and successes. At completion, the collection will contain 250 hours and 50,000 pages of quality documentaries, accident reports, experiments, visualizations, case studies, lectures and interviews from leading engineering institutions around the world.
- US Consumer Product Safety CommissionCPSC works to save lives and keep families safe by reducing the unreasonable risk of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products and fulfilling its vision to be the recognized global leader in consumer product safety.
Case Studies
- NSPE Board of Ethical Review CasesAll published opinions of the NSPE Board of Ethical Review.
Opinions issued by the NSPE Board of Ethical review prior to 1980 are provided solely for historic purposes and may no longer be valid because of changes to the NSPE Code of Ethics as well as legal and regulatory requirements. - Online Ethics Center for Engineering CollectionsThe OEC mission is to: provide engineers, scientists, faculty, and students with resources for understanding and addressing ethically significant issues that arise in scientific and engineering practice and from the developments of science and engineering; and serve those who promote learning and advance understanding of responsible research and practice in engineering, science, and social sciences.
- Research Ethics ResourcesThe National Center for Principled Leadership & Research Ethics (NCPRE) creates and shares resources to support the development of better ethics and leadership practices in academic and other professional contexts.
All are similar in that they are documents designed to specify and organize proper procedure, policies, or behavior on topics.
Differences:
Laws are introduced/sponsored by a Legislator, passes Legislative Branch of Government, and signed by the Executive Branch. Laws apply to everyone under the jurisdiction of the government.
- Federal Laws must be passed by House of Representatives and Senate then signed by US President
- State Laws, for Iowa, are passed by the Iowa House of Representatives and the Iowa Senate then signed by the Iowa Governor
Regulations are written by government administrative agencies outlining how a law will be implemented.
- Federal Codes are written by the Federal Executive Agencies - US Cabinet Members and the departments under them. (example: FDA, EPA, FAA, etc.)
- State Codes are written by the State Executive Departments.
Standards are written by industries for those who work in the field. Standards are used to regulate terms, components, testing procedures, and more to allow for interoperability and consistency across the industry.
- Professional Organizations can be as specific or broad as they desire in what they write into their standards.
Products liability issues are usually governed by case law. However, several aspects of products liability law have been addressed by statute, so be sure to check the local jurisdiction for relevant law.
Federal
The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives.
U.S. laws on Products Liability in general are codified in Title 15 (Commerce and Trade) of the United States Code.
To locate other statutes search by products liability, warranty, strict liability or the type of product i.e. tobacco. Sources include:
- Historic US Code1994-2020
State
To locate statutory code sections on your topic, consult the index to your state's annotated code and look for relevant terms such as products liability, warranty, strict liability or the type of product.
Federal
Regulations pertaining to Products Liability in general are located in Commerce and Trade: Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Sources include:
- Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)This is the official version published in Federal Register. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government. It is divided into 50 titles representing broad areas subject to federal regulation.
The CFR on govinfo is current with the published print version of the CFR. When the print editions are released, the online version is also made available.
Tip: If needing to quote a specific piece of the CFR use official CFR - Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)The eCFR is not an official legal edition of the CFR but provides a way of exploring the Code of Federal Regulations. It is an editorial compilation of CFR material and amendments published in the daily Federal Register maintained by the National Archives.
Tip: If simply looking to read and explore the CFR use eCFR (more user-friendly)
State
To locate regulations on your topic, consult the index to your state's administrative code and look for relevant terms such as products liability, warranty, strict liability or the type of product
- Iowa Administrative CodeAdministrative rules implement or interpret law, prescribe policy, or describe the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of an executive branch agency.
A standard is defined by the National Standards Policy Advisory Committee as:
"A prescribed set of rules, conditions, or requirements concerning definitions of terms; classification of components; specification of materials, performance, or operations; delineation of procedures; or measurement of quantity and quality in describing materials, products, systems, services, or practices."
Detailed information about Standards can be found in the Standards Library Guide: