Latest Causality Podcast Episodes
54: Midland Resource Recovery
Causality - June 25, 2024 11:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 2017 during an Odoriser decontamination procedure in West Virginia, two people were killed when it unexpectedly exploded. Barely a month later, a similar procedure at the same site led to a second explosion, killing someone else. We examine how poor hazard analysis and legal interference led t...
53: Callide C Blackout
Causality - March 30, 2024 08:45 - 50 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 2021 the Callide C Power Station experienced a unit failure that tore the turbine-generator apart, resulted in hundreds of thousands of premises losing power, and cost hundreds of millions to repair. We look at how design errors and ultimately a lack of information led to the incident escalati...
52: Colonial Pipeline
Causality - December 09, 2023 20:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 2021 many of Colonial Pipelines IT systems were locked by malware and out of caution they shutdown the fuel pipelines feeding nearly half of the Eastern US leading to chaos at the gas pump and a state of emergency being declared. We look at how poor off-boarding hygiene led to an easily preven...
51: I35 West
Causality - August 27, 2023 10:45 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe I35W bridge over the Mississippi River carried 140,000 cars every day. Inspections in 1999 and 2003 showed damage to support plates that was dismissed as unimportant at the time. We look into how poor design checking and assumptions led to the bridge collapsing in 2007, costing the lives of 1...
50: 737 MAX Ethiopian Air
Causality - April 22, 2023 20:00 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsFive months after Lion Air 610 crashed, another 737-MAX went down with a similar cause. However the official report was at odds with two other internationally respected investigative organisations. We dig into the detail of how the AOA Sensor was claimed to have failed, and review checklist discr...
49: Carmel Fireworks Explosion
Causality - January 18, 2023 10:15 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsA fireworks company in Western Australia that had been in business for nearly a century, were preparing for a fireworks display in their packing shed when one ignited and set off a fire and an explosion. Onlookers were shocked when there was a subsequent explosion that was so big it was heard 30 ...
48: Instituto Goiano de Radioterapia
Causality - November 18, 2022 11:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsWhen a radiation therapy machine was left behind during a move between buildings in central Brazil, it set in motion a series of events that would lead to one of the worst radiological incidents in history. We look into how bureaucracy and misdiagnosis cost four people their lives and how the act...
47: Hyatt Regency Kansas City
Causality - July 15, 2022 20:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe tallest building in Missouri with a large atrium perfect for big bands and dancing, hosted a regular Tea Dance in the summer of 1981. When two walkways collapsed killing over a hundred people, the investigators found multiple fundamental design errors. We look at how assumptions, redrafting c...
46: Mindbender
Causality - May 16, 2022 21:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe longest, tallest, fastest indoor rollercoaster in the world was only open six months when the last carriage of a train came loose, killing three people and all that the day following an inspection that the ride was safe to operate. We look at how a design choice made maintenance more critical...
45: Granville
Causality - April 02, 2022 09:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 1977, a commuter train from the Blue Mountains, destined for Sydney central station would derail just before Granville Station, causing a bridge to collapse and crush many aboard. It remains Australia's worst ever rail disaster that was predicted by 11 engineering department heads just a year ...
44: Beirut Warehouse 12
Causality - February 10, 2022 20:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn Beirut in August of 2020, an explosion at the Port of Beirut destroyed a huge part of the city. We look into how an oxidising agent, improperly handled can become an explosive and attempt to comprehend how something so dangerous was ignored repeatedly by key people, despite many warnings of an...
43: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Causality - November 09, 2021 20:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 1911 in Manhattan, New York, a clothing factory went up in flames just before closing time. We look at how faulty equipment, poor design and a fear of theft contributed to a wholly preventable incident that had such terrible consequences, but would trigger reforms that still impact the United ...
42: Royal Canberra Hospital
Causality - September 16, 2021 20:00 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe original Royal Canberra Hospital was flagged to be demolished in 1997 to make way for the new National Museum. A demolition via implosion was selected, but the implosion resulted in an explosion instead, and debris showered the huge crowd of onlookers with fatal consequences. With John Chidge...
41: Florida International University
Causality - July 08, 2021 20:00 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe university wanted a bridge for its students over a busy roadway that would appear intriguing from afar. Instead it collapsed before it was even finished. We look into how design errors, poor peer review and denial led to a collapse that claimed six peoples lives. With John Chidgey. This show...
40: Ocean Ranger
Causality - May 24, 2021 20:00 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe largest semi-submersible Offshore Drilling Rig of its day, sank in a storm in 1982 whilst two smaller nearby rigs survived with minimal damage. We dive into how not closing a portlight cover, triggered a series of events that cost 84 people their lives. With John Chidgey. This show is Podcas...
An Update To All Subscribers
Free Will, Science, and Religion - April 21, 2021 19:49 ★★★★ - 3 ratingsThis is a quick update to all people who have subscribed to the old podcasts I hosted. I can revive them if I need to but I want feedback of what the listeners would like to hear.. This item has files of the following types: Archive BitTorrent, Columbia Peaks, Item Tile, Metadata, PNG, Spectrog...
39: Therac-25
Causality - March 23, 2021 02:00 - 53 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe 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 cou...
38: Thunder River Rapids
Causality - January 24, 2021 06:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsA 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 horrif...
37: Variola Birmingham
Causality - November 26, 2020 20:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 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. Investigation Report: The Shooter Report (PDF) Me...
36: Big Dig
Causality - September 15, 2020 20:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsA 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 delive...
35: San Bruno
Causality - July 26, 2020 20:00 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsA 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. Investigation and Reports: NTSB Report (PDF) Independent Review Panel Report ...
34: Aberfan
Causality - May 07, 2020 20:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsOne 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 ...
33: 737 MAX
Causality - January 30, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsWith 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. Related episodes: Causality Episode ...
32: Walkerton
Causality - December 06, 2019 20:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 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. Links of potential interest: Walkerton Ontario Tor...
31: Black Energy
Causality - October 03, 2019 20:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsThe 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. Links of potential interest: Dec...
30: Tim Maia
Causality - July 04, 2019 20:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsAs part of Rio's preparations for the Olympics in 2016 a cycling pathway was built adjacent to a narrow, congested roadway along a picturesque shoreline. When a section collapsed only months before the opening ceremony killing two people, the world looked on with growing concerns about the immine...
29: Flight 1549
Causality - June 04, 2019 20:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 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 Jo...
28: Hotel New World
Causality - May 09, 2019 20:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsIn 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. Prior Episode Re...
27: Gare De Lyon
Causality - April 04, 2019 20:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsOn 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 Lyo...
27: Gare de Lyon
Causality - April 04, 2019 19:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsOn 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 Ly...
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