This episode covers an Iranian military transported downed by lightning, the Milford Haven Texaco Refinery explosion, and the dangers of blasphemy on a golf course. Lightning alone is seldom enough to cause a major disaster, but it creates a system distur

One of the weird things about safety is that we spend so much effort on safety analysis during design, despite the fact that almost all accidents happen after design is completed. One explanation is that addressing problems by building safety into the des

Sean Ellis visits DisasterCast this episode to provide a detailed discussion of TWA 800 and the associated conspiracy theories about US armed forces being responsible for the accident. We also discuss a couple of real accidents involving missiles and airl

DisasterCast has covered some pretty weird topics. We've dealt with pilot defenestration, spontaneous human combustion, and exploding death stars. I don't think we've ever described an accident quite as strange as the 15 foot wall of molasses that destroy

This episode was recorded in the Safety Science Innovation Lab, and comes filled with thoughts about how we tell stories about safety. Do we even have theories of safety, or just meta-narratives - patterns of storytelling? What's the difference between a

When I claim that the chance of my front-lawn rocket exploding is "ten to the minus six", just what does that mean? Does it mean the same thing to me as it does to you? Does it mean anything at all? How can I misuse scope, timeframes, exposure and units t

This episode features the BP Texas City Refinery explosion of 2005. Unlike most accidents featured on the show, it is a story of management fully aware of danger as a situation tumbled towards disaster. Knowing you have a problem may be an important part

What is independence? Why does it matter for safety? Why can't we have perfect independence, and why wouldn't we want it even if we could have it? Are there times independence is an actively bad thing? And what happens when independence is vital, but just

This episode is about a clash of principles I call the "Question of Final Authority". The question is: In a given situation, should automation be designed to prevent system states which the designers judge to be dangerous, or should the interface provid

This episode discusses measurement of safety and the Imperial Sugar disaster. Measurement is the foundation of both research and business improvement. If we can't compare two companies, or our own company at two points in time, how can we know whether o