Titan sub may have been doomed from the start. Here’s why

globalnews.ca:

The company behind the submersible that imploded during a recent dive to the Titanic ignored key principles that guide organizations working in high-risk environments, experts in emergency management say.

Jack Rozdilsky, a professor at York University in Toronto, says OceanGate’s business — ferrying paying passengers to the floor of the North Atlantic — could be compared to the immensely risky work of companies that launch space flights, drill for offshore oil, fight wildfires or operate nuclear power plants.

“These are high-reliability organizations (HROs) that operate in complex, high-hazard domains for extended periods of time without serious accidents or catastrophic failures,” Rozdilsky, a professor of disaster and emergency management, said in a recent interview.

“OceanGate does not appear to have functioned as a high-reliability organization.”

The professor cited three key attributes shared by high-reliability organizations. He said they are reluctant to simplify, and accept that tasks they are involved in are complex and have the potential to fail in unexpected ways.

They are also preoccupied with failure, he said, and do not view near-misses as proof of success.

As well, they practice resilience. They provide backups for backups, or as Rozdilsky put it: “Suspenders for the suspenders.”

There is evidence to suggest OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — one of five people killed June 18 when the submersible Titan ruptured near the ocean floor — emphasized simplicity over complexity when it came to Titan’s engineering.

During an interview last year with CBS News, Rush showed off Titan’s basic interior, which included one power button, two video screens and a gaming controller for steering the 6.7-metre vessel.

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