RE: Fear and Loathing at the Job Site

["HALL Bill" <bill -dot- hall -at- tenix -dot- com>]

Over the years I have tried to collect documentation on cases where bad
technical writing has killed people. In Australia there are two cases
four years ago where documentation issues probably caused deaths.

The Longford Gas Plant disaster killed two? and was primarily the result
that documentation they should have had to cover the circumstances
either had not been written or did not exist on the site where the
problem occurred.

The fire on HMAS Westralia was a consequence of incorrect fuel hoses
that were installed because existing procedures were not followed. The
documentation existed and provided adequate description of the
procedures that should be followed to make that kind of engineering
change, but wasn't followed in the case.

The point I am making is that it is probably better to have imperfect
documentation than none at all.

Bill Hall
Documentation Systems Analyst
Strategy and Development Group
Tenix Defence
Nelson House, Nelson Place
Williamstown, Vic. 3016
Australia
Tel: +61 3 9244 4820 (Direct)
     +61 3 9244 4986 (Office)
URL: http://www.tenix.com
Mailto:bill -dot- hall -at- tenix -dot- com

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