Too much pressure.19 Hank Kolb was put in charge of quality assurance at a plant where practices were not up to par. The most immediate issue facing him was what to do about some pressurized cans of lubricant that had just been shipped out. The cans had been overpressurized by faulty equipment.

When this was discovered, one of the production supervisors vented the excess by hand without taking measurements to make sure the pressure was within tolerances. One option was to recall the cans and check them systematically, but this would be an expensive and time-consuming process, and it would antagonize customers. Should Kolb recall the cans?

Hints. See Case 6.2 for guidance on how to analyze this case. The utilitarian test can perhaps be applied by the use of statistical sampling to estimate the cost of possible injuries. Kolb could recall a random sample of the cans for this purpose.However, you must ask whether statistical sampling alone can enable Kolb to promise safety, as required by the generalization principle, or whether a complete recall is necessary. Statistical sampling presupposes that uncontrolled defects are random.