As I wrote in one of my earlier blogs, the upcoming General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is food for many more blogs to come. It contains many provisions that go far beyond the current EU General Product Safety Directive (GPSD). In this blog, I would like to draw attention to a new obligation that is introduced in the GPSR: accident reporting.
Wheels that come loose, brakes that don't work, seatbelts that don't tighten, and a wrong brake pedal that gets in the way when using the clutch. This is not about bicycle recalls but a selection of recent automotive safety issues that were categorized as 'serious risk' and therefore led to a product recall. It doesn't take much of an imagination to realise what can happen if your car loses a wheel, can't brake or doesn't have a properly working seatbelt while driving.
"The health care turmoil in the US is only temporary," Philips' CEO said in an interview in 2017. Today, Philips itself seems to be in its worst turmoil ever. The company is recalling millions of medical devices due to the breakdown of foam (PE-PUR) used in the Philips Respironics ventilators and other medical devices, causing serious potential health risks.
In the music world, a contract for live concerts typically has an appendix, also known as a 'rider', that includes all kinds of very detailed technical and practical rules and demands of a band. Some bands are known for adding insane or absurd requests to a rider - rock band Van Halen was one of them. Their wish list included "M&M's (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES!)". Their contract further stipulated the following: "There will be no brown M&M's in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation".
Michael Jackson is famous for many things, not least because of his misheard lyrics. Even native speakers have trouble understanding what he is actually singing and his version of "Come on!" is just inimitable: "Shamone!".
"I have always told you some version of the truth", Jack Nicholson said to Diane Keaton in one of my favourite comedies "Something's gotta give". But it could very well have been a lawyer who said it. Indeed, attorneys-at-law are trained to defend your version of the truth,
