Design a part to fail.
Electrical systems are protected by fuses or circuit breakers that trip before a power surge can ruin expensive components or damage hard-to-access wires.
In steel buildings, connections between structural members may be designed to deform during earthquakes, to prevent catastrophic failure of the larger system. Repair of the connections can be done at a fraction of the cost of replacing the entire building.
Biomedical devices are often connected loosely to protect a patient. A pulse oximeter, used to detect blood oxygenation, is connected to a patient’s finger with deliberate weakness, preventing injury should someone trip over the cable.
The clips that hold lobster traps together are designed to corrode after one fishing season. When traps are lost or abandoned, the clips will fail before the wire-gridded sides, leaving flat pieces that are much less hazardous to boats than a pile of submerged boxes.
