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.
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Total Listening Time: 19 hours, 46 minutes and 15 seconds.
Really enjoy John’s analysis of these famous safety incidents. Lots to learn here!
A wonderful podcast. Loving it!
I discovered this podcast in a roundabout way investigating Chernobyl & Fukushima. John Chigdey is a passionate genius, I love his delivery, knowledge and analysis. I have never heard of many of these incidents (NOT ACCIDENTS!). It's tragic how these mistakes pile up on each other until the inevtiable happens. Everything seems so safe and reliable until it doesn't. Even if you're not an engineer or a scientist this is a must listen series. I listened to them all pretty much straight in a row. There are lessons here applicable to just about every part of life.
A wonderful podcast. Loving it!
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.
Fascinating take on the world.
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.
Thank you this is such a great resource for safety professionals; well researched and easy to listen to.
This is one of the few podcasts where the podcaster understands what the word thorough means. No useless information is ever added. The subjects are interesting, heavy, and important. Sometimes it is dry, in the sense he is not making jokes, but that is a positive thing for this podcast but does mean it is not always the most accessible. I’m sure the podcaster knows this as he (to my glee) includes undiluted technical information to help explain the event.
This is a great podcast for me when I need a break from true crime. He talks about cataclysmic events not simply for the morbid entertainment, but to think about the “HOW” and “WHY” factors from the perspective of an engineer. Also, the dreamy Australian voice and calming tone of the narrator is everything. It’s oddly a compliment, but when I need to fall asleep to something that won’t give me nightmares in the way many others of the same genre might— he’s my guy!
As a teacher, I’ve found this podcast extremely valuable in learning great examples of why physics is important in our daily lives. He’s done a wonderful job in the recap of events and then the breakdown of where things went wrong. I highly recommend this podcast!
I enjoy having someone with a more analytical brain talk about what went wrong and why. Too many podcasts focus on the horror of what happened in disasters, as opposed to the causes beneath it. Or they focus on being entertaining and witty. I’d much rather hear someone with a background in science go through cause and effect, and what happens when people and systems fail. For a non scientist such as myself, it’s lovely learning how someone with, I assume, education and training in engineering, perceives man made disaster Great job to everyone involved in this podcast!
Great analysis of various disasters. Fascinating how greed has become one of the main villians in these disasters.
I am a maintenance electrician and it is so interesting how incorrect procedures or “tribal learning” leads to dangerous outcomes
A podcast for those with a brain
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.
Latest Episode
Episode 36: Big Dig
16 September, 2020
A series of concrete ceiling tiles in a tunnel portal collapsed on a moving car killing the passenger in downtown Boston in 2006. The selection of the epoxy used in the ceiling tile anchors was unusual and a failure to heed the warning signs were at odds on a huge project under pressure to deliver when already twice over time and five times over budget.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Kevin Koch, Oliver Steele, Hafthor and Shane O'Neill.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 35: San Bruno
27 July, 2020
A modification made in 1956 to a pipeline built in the 1940s would ultimately fail costing 8 people their lives in 2010. We look at what went wrong with PG&Es gas pipeline in San Bruno, California.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Joseph Antonio, Kevin Koch, Oliver Steele and Shane O'Neill.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 34: Aberfan
8 May, 2020
One Friday morning in 1966 in a small town in Wales a mining spoils waste tip let go with a river of liquified rubble destroying buildings and a school. Killing 144 people, mostly children in their classrooms. The mechanics of how this happened are simple. The ignorance and economics of why this happened boggles the mind.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Joseph Antonio, Kevin Koch and Oliver Steele.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 33: 737 MAX
31 January, 2020
With two crashes in five months of the new 737 4th Generation a design flaw seemed likely. We look at how Boeings focus on cost-avoidance, grandfathering and bending probabilities during design would ultimately cost 346 people their lives.
With
John Chidgey.
In Causality Explored, (Premium ONLY) we dive into the Xtra Aerospace calibration of the Angle Of Attack sensor and learn why written test procedures matter.
Episode Silver Producers:
John Whitlow, Joseph Antonio, Kevin Koch and Shane O'Neill.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 32: Walkerton
7 December, 2019
In 2000 the small township of Walkerton Ontario witnessed the largest outbreak of E.Coli infections in Canada’s history. The water utility claimed the town water was safe, but it wasn’t and many people paid with their lives.
With
John Chidgey.
In Causality Explored, (Premium ONLY) we dive into what Free and Total Chlorine Residual are, why it matters, and how a 10 minute discussion with the right people could have prevented the incident at Walkerton.
Episode Silver Producers:
Carsten Hansen, John Whitlow, Joseph Antonio and Kevin Koch.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode 31: Black Energy
4 October, 2019
The evening before Christmas Eve in 2015 saw a widespread blackout of the power grid across the Ukraine. We look at how a cyber-attack on electric utility companies in Europe, changed how cyber-security is regarded in control systems, forever.
With
John Chidgey.
In Causality Explored, (Premium ONLY) we dive into GOOSE as a messaging protocol in High Voltage Circuit Breaker protection, why it's important and why it's opened a door for hackers that didn't exist 20 years ago.
Episode Silver Producers:
Carsten Hansen, John Whitlow, Joseph Antonio and Kevin Koch.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.