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: 22 hours, 8 minutes and 35 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.
I am entirely fixated on disasters, and this is by far my favorite source. Clean covering, professional with a well of barely hidden rage at the powers that be that allowed these disasters to come to fruition, and a nice voice to boot. If I could give more stars I really really would.
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 39: Therac-25
23 March, 2021
The successor to the Therac-6 and Therac-20 RadioTherapy machines would integrate the powerful DEC PDP-11 mini-computer to control all of the Therac-25s functions, including the safety interlocks, for the first time. In two years the 11 machines in service would overdose six people across two countries, killing three of them before they figured out why.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Gold Producers:
'r' and Chip Salzenberg.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Kevin Koch, Oliver Steele, Lesley Law Chan, Hafthor and Shane O'Neill.
Episode 38: Thunder River Rapids
24 January, 2021
A popular family-friendly ride at DreamWorld would claim the lives of four people in 2016. In nearly thirty years of operation the ride had several similar but non-fatal incidents with blame placed on the operator every time, when a three thousand dollar modification could have prevented a horrific incident.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Kevin Koch, Oliver Steele, Lesley Law Chan, Hafthor and Shane O'Neill.
Episode 37: Variola Birmingham
27 November, 2020
In 1978 on the cusp of the eradication of SmallPox a Medical Photographer became infected and would ultimately die from the Variola virus. We look at how admiration, promotion and delegation led to a wholly avoidable outcome.
With
John Chidgey.
Episode Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Kevin Koch, Oliver Steele, Lesley Law Chan, Hafthor and Shane O'Neill.
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 Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Kevin Koch, Oliver Steele, Hafthor and Shane O'Neill.
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 Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Joseph Antonio, Kevin Koch, Oliver Steele and Shane O'Neill.
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 Gold Producer:
'r'.
Episode Silver Producers:
Mitch Biegler, John Whitlow, Joseph Antonio, Kevin Koch and Oliver Steele.