Assignment

You are an engineering technologist employed in the local branch of H. L. Winman and Associates. Currently you are supervising installation work at a remote construction project at Cormorant Dam.

The day before you left for the construction site, your branch man- ager (Vern Rogers) called you into his office. "I'd like you to meet Harry Vincent," he said, and introduced you to a tall, gray-haired man. "Harry is with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and he wants you to take some air pollution readings while you're at Cormorant Dam." Mr. Vincent opened a wooden box about 14 × 10 × 10 inches, with a leather shoulder strap attached to it. In the box, embedded in foam rubber, you could see a battery-powered instrument. "It's a Vancourt MK 7 Air Sampler," he explained, "and it's very delicate. Don't check it with your luggage when you fly to Cormorant Dam. Always carry it with you."

For the next hour Mr. Vincent demonstrated how to use the air sam- pler, and made you practice with it until he was confident you could take the twice-daily measurements he wanted.

Now it is 10 days later and you have just finished taking the late- afternoon air sample measurements. You are standing on a small plat- form halfway up some construction framework at Cormorant Dam, and are replacing the air sampler in its box.

Suddenly there is a shout from above, followed immediately by two sharp blows, one on your hardhat and the other on your shoulder. You glimpse a 3-foot length of 4-inches square construction lumber tumble past you followed by the air sampler box, which has been knocked out of your hand. The box turns end over end until it crashes to the ground. When you retrieve it the box is misshapen and splintered and the air sampler inside it is twisted. Also, your arm is throbbing badly and you cannot grip anything. An examination at the medical center shows you have a dislocated shoulder, and now your arm is supported by a sling. (Fortunately, it is not your writing hand.)

Write an incident report to Harry Vincent of the Environmental Protection Agency. Tell him

-what has happened,

-that you have shipped the damaged air sampler to him on Remick Airlines Flight 751, for him to pick up at your city's airport (you enclose the airline's receipt with your report), and

-that if he wants you to continue taking air pollution measurements, he will have to send you another air sampler.

Harry Vincent's title is Regional Inspector and his address is Environmental Protection Agency, Suite 306, 444 Waltham Avenue of your city.