Risks and Ethical Responsibilities

Minnie Lee is an engineer with a multi-national aerospace company that produces fuel-line components for all types of air and space craft. Minnie discovered a potential defect in a particular fuel-line component. Minnie is the lead-engineer for this particular division and scheduled tests that would indicate the failure potential for the component. The tests indicated a very low risk that at certain very low, or very high temperatures, the component might fail, which in turn might lead to a catastrophic failure of the entire system.

What are the risks associated with this situation? That is, describe the various risks and the affected stakeholders.

What ethical responsibilities do Minnie and the Company have? For ex, should the decision to repair the system be considered in terms of the potential liability risks of failure versus the costs of the repairs?