CURRENT
Causality
Chain of Events. Cause and Effect. We analyse what went right and what went wrong as we discover that many outcomes can be predicted, planned for and even prevented.
Total Listening Time: 15 hours, 5 minutes and 1 second.
Selected iTunes Reviews
Really enjoy John’s analysis of these famous safety incidents. Lots to learn here!
John does a wonderful of walking through and unpicking the incidents discussed. His expertise in control systems and how they factor into unfolding events make this a must listen for anyone with an interest in engineering matters. Keep listening and pay attention.
A podcast for those with a brain
Great podcast. Just finished Fukushima and it’s amazing the amount of misinformation put out by other podcasts that talk about this incident. It’s great to get an engineering perspective on what happened. Keep up the great work.
This podcast is awesome. Really interesting details explaining disasters from an engineering point of view.
John explains the causes of disasters in great detail—many of them about incredibly interesting events that I did’t even know about.
Fascinating take on the world.
YES THIS. When John goes off on a tear about engineering ethics and you can fully feel his passion on the subject, it gives one some hope for humanity. Another huge Positive: Causality episodes are evergreen, I often recommend them when a disaster comes up in conversation.
I can honestly say that I have spoken up about issues that I might have just 'let go' because of Causality. I have also started to communicate more clearly and explicitly at work to remove ambiguity and reduce miscommunication.
Jeeze I always thought causality was the best. Disaster pods are cool but they aren’t analytical. Feels like disaster pods make everything seem fated while causality exposes negligence and carelessness. The pod definitely adds value to history for me. Best one of them all 10/10
Yes. Let's also remember the shameful people who overrode the engineers raising alarms because they were worried about time and money. As John points out in Causality episode 8, waiting even one more day would have probably prevented this outcome.
The curious history of early aviation and failed engineering review processes @CausalityShow 10: The Comet
Great episode of @CausalityShow as a Quality Engineer the phrase legacy knowledge makes me cringe. Put it in a damn procedure.
been obsessing over the @causalityshow podcast: engr breaks down disaster in detail and gets to the moral background of engnrng.
The Causality podcast (by John) is great, offering detailed walkthroughs of other engineering-related incidents to explore how and why they happened, how they could have been prevented:
Causality - a fortnightly reminder of human frailty and hubris. Spellbinding frightening listening.
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Latest Episode
Episode 29: Flight 1549
5 June, 2019
In 2009 an AirBus A320 departing LaGuardia Airport in New York suffered a dual engine failure due to a bird strike during takeoff. In a highly improbable event an equally highly improbable landing in the Hudson River shocked and amazed the world. We look at what went right on Flight 1549.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Carsten Hansen, John Whitlow and Joseph Antonio.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 28: Hotel New World
10 May, 2019
In 1986 an unremarkable building in Singapore collapsed killing dozens of people. We look at how the supervision of the construction and the design itself resulted in a structure that was at best critically stable, and ultimately one that could only ever fail.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Carsten Hansen and John Whitlow.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 27: Gare De Lyon
5 April, 2019
On the 27th of June, 1988 in central Paris a runaway train collided with a stationary train in Gare De Lyon station, claiming 56 lives and injuring 60 more. Whilst the court found the driver guilty and sent him to jail, was he solely to blame? We look at how poor design decisions made Gare De Lyon inevitable.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Carsten Hansen and John Whitlow.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 26: Bhopal
8 February, 2019
In December, 1984 in the city of Bhopal in central India, a Union Carbide Pesticide plant would fail and release tonnes of toxic gas into the city, killing thousands of people. It was the worst industrial disaster in human history. We follow the threads and trace back the root causes behind the incident at Bhopal.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Carsten Hansen and John Whitlow.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 25: Deepwater Horizon
9 January, 2019
In 2010 an Oil Drilling Rig suffered a catastrophic well blowout, killing 11 people, destroying the rig and leading to the worst maritime oil spill in history. It all happened a few hours after the well was declared safe and ready for handover. We look at the human and financial factors that led to the incident at Macondo.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Carsten Hansen and John Whitlow.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 24: Columbia
14 December, 2018
In 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia launched successfully but after its mission was completed burned up on re-entry with the loss of all onboard. We look at how normalisation of deviation blinded many at NASA to a risk that had existed since 1981.
With
John Chidgey.