Fail Safe Mechanism?..... What is that?

Fail Safe Mechanism?..... What is that?

Any one would dread to be in the shoes of my friend Sree S Subramanian and undergo the experience similar to what he went through when his lady wife had to be rescued from a stuck elevator. Undoubtedly, as he says “Despite all the safety measures provided in an elevator (read any mechanism), they do not seem to be entirely fail-safe”. One couldn’t but agree with him entirely. In fact any maintenance engineer would know that what he has stated is really the principle underlying Murphy’s Law.
Even in systems like space vehicles, nuclear reactors etc where for obvious reasons the designer incorporates the highest safety and standby measures we have had any number of mishaps whatever be the reasons. As one associated in several aircraft accident investigation teams, even these ‘birds’ with all its safety measures and inbuilt stand by systems (of hydraulic, electrical and manual) taking over one by one in sequence during emergency, are prone to ‘strange behaviours’ (I liked those words of Sree SS ). Add to that the human error; you face a fact, “there is no fool-proof, fail-safe method to arrest catastrophic failures even with best of intentions”
Murphy's law is a popular adage which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation in which error is possible. "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." It is most commonly formulated as "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
The law was named after Major Edward A. Murphy, Jr.,(An American), a development engineer working for a brief time on rocket experiments done by the United States Air Force in 1949.
Accounts differ as to the precise origin of Murphy's law and the details about how it was initially formulated. A project was on for the purpose of testing the human tolerance for g-forces during rapid deceleration. Initial tests used a humanoid crash test dummy strapped to a seat. But subsequent tests were performed by Edward Murphy’s assistant using gauges attached to a harness strapped to a chimpanzee.
The sensors provided a zero reading, however; it became apparent that they had been installed incorrectly, with each sensor wired backwards. It was at this point that Murphy made his pronouncement and in frustration, blamed the failure on his assistant, saying, "If that guy has any way of making a mistake, he will." "Murphy's law" was born; it was condensed to "If it can happen, it will happen," and named for Murphy in mockery. According to some, his father's statement was along the lines of "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way."
Murphy's law has taken on many different formulations. The proverb was phrased "Anything That Can Possibly Go Wrong, Does" —'Everything that can possibly go wrong will go wrong'." Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.(My favourite).
Additional mutations of the law and its corollaries have developed into humourous quotes like:
1. A slice of buttered bread, when dropped, will always land butter-side down on a new carpet.
2. When you need an item that is in a heap, it will always be the one at the bottom.
BEST Buses take ages to arrive, but when they do they always arrive in sets of three ( "you wait ages for a bus, then two come along at once!"). There actually is a logical explanation for this: the first bus is slowed down because of the time needed to let passengers get on and off. The subsequent busses are (typically) not allowed to pass the first bus, so you tend to end up with a full bus followed by a line of empty ones.
3. The day you forget your umbrella, it pours with rain.
4. When caught in a traffic jam, the lane that you are in will always be the slowest to move.
5. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
6. Everything takes longer than you think. Or, everything takes twice as long as it should; excepting that which appears easy, taking three times as long.
7. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.
8. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong first.
9. If something simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
10. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
11. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
12. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
13. Every solution breeds new problems.
14. All small objects of value will disappear when set down.
15. An Allegory: If you stop and ask someone for directions, and they tell you "You can't miss it"... then be assured that you will.
16. If you make it idiot-proof, someone will make a better idiot.
17. The day you forget to bring your calculator to Math or Science class, there will be a quiz or test that requires one.
18. A train/bus/plane will be late, unless you are late and need the delay to make it on board

Murphy's Law is sometimes also presented as a life philosophy, an area which is of interest to me now. Call it pessimism if you like but with age I seem to be embodying defensive designs; suspecting in the approach of anything whatsoever, a possible flaw . Then it's always within good measure to take the necessary precautions to make sure that those flaws can't happen. However, this is left open to controversy as my wife puts it bluntly,
“Enna……… of late you have become a Samsaya kudukkai?”
I pretend not to hear her busy with my SoDu Ku.
“I feel father has merely mellowed down to taking less risks”, supports my daughter.

No no. I do not walk up the stairs when the elevator is available. Available? Where? There is no Power supply when you require it most. And the standby generator is not on an automatic ‘take over mode’ thanks to whoever…….

Rgds
V V R
05 Jun 06