Causality

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 Producer: 'r'.

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.

When two trains collided head on at Kipton, Ohio in 1891, it was a wake up call for the railroad industry in North America whose impacts would be far-reaching and would lead to a new timekeeping standard that was unprecedented.

With John Chidgey.

The largest nuclear incident in human history released an estimated 400 times the radioactive material compared to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It all happened because of a test that was delayed by one shift, or was it the ultimate inevitability of a flawed reactor design?

With John Chidgey.

A turning point in control systems user interface design and alarm management happened in an unlikely place that few have ever heard of. We look at what went wrong at Milford Haven.

With John Chidgey.