Editing Operational definition (section)

=== Business ===
On October 15, 1970, the [[West Gate Bridge]] in [[Melbourne]], [[Australia]] collapsed, killing 35 construction workers. The subsequent enquiry found that the failure arose because engineers had specified the supply of a quantity of ''flat steel plate.'' The word ''flat'' in this context lacked an operational definition, so there was no test for accepting or rejecting a particular shipment or for controlling quality.

In his managerial and statistical writings, [[W. Edwards Deming]] placed great importance on the value of using operational definitions in all agreements in business.