Minding the machines preventing technological disasters

Synopsis

Technological disasters effect every area of a corporation's infrastructure, not to mention their reputation, bottom line, and possible costly liability lawsuits. This book explores various preventive strategies for technology disasters -- organizational, professional, political and legal -- that can help organizations reduce the incidence of technological disasters and mitigate their vast human costs. The authors explore a crisis management program, which is an essential preventive strategy. They recommend more citizen participation in technology policy decisions to minimize the risks of technological disasters. Staying informed and learning from the disasters of the past is one way to prevent them from happening in the future.
-- Analysis of nearly three dozen case studies of technological disasters and the lessons learned from them
-- Explores the role of engineering schools, corporations, and scientific and engineering societies in preventing technological disasters
-- Takes a systematic analysis of technological risks

Technological breakthroughs, such as the computer and the Internet in the 20th century, have revolutionized our everyday lives. Some of these breakthroughs have also inadvertently led to disasters. One need only mention the Three-Mile Island accident, the Chernobyl catastrophe, the Challenger shuttle tragedy, the Bhopal gas leak in India, Love Canal, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Such disasters -- Acts of Man, not acts of God --