Safety Culture in the News

Ep.86 Do we have adequate models of accident causation?

safetyofwork.com/episodes/…

In today’s episode, we discuss the paper “Risk Management in a Dynamic Society: A Modelling Problem” published in a 1997 volume of Safety Science by Jens Rasmussen (1926‑2018). Rasmussen was a renowned professor and researcher at the Riso Laboratory in Denmark. As one of the most influential thinkers in safety and major hazard prevention, Rasmussen’s theories put forth in this article are still being used in safety science today.

U.S. Senate condemns Boeing’s FAA oversight

texasnewstoday.com/u-s-senat…

Washington (Reuters) -A US Senate report released Monday does a better job of overseeing the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification of new planes with Boeing and reviewing the allegations raised by seven industry whistle blowers. He said he had to do it.

Senator Maria Cantwell’s 97-page Commerce Commission report was raised as a result of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in five months that prompted a 20-month landing of the plane. Concerns are included. Parliament also passed a drastic reform in December 2020 on how the FAA will certify new planes that the FAA is still implementing.

“FAA’s oversight of the certification process has been eroded,” the report said. “Over time, we have increasingly delegated that authority to Boeing and others.”

According to the report, the FAA “should take immediate action to deal with Boeing’s excessive pressure,” adding that “a chronic shortage of personnel.”

Boeing said it was considering the report. “Boeing teammates are encouraged to speak up whenever they are concerned about safety or quality,” said the plane manufacturer, and many issues in the report were “previously published and Boeing monitors. We have been working to deal with them under. “

“The FAA certification process puts undue pressure on line engineers and production staff,” the report said. FAA Boeing’s surveillance office lacks sufficient safety engineers and needs to improve its safety culture.

Six flaws allegedly contributed to Taiwan’s COVID-19 lab infection

www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4…

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A preliminary investigation has pointed to six errors that may have contributed to the COVID-19 infection of a scientist at a P3 (Biosafety Level-3) facility in Taiwan, the first case of its kind.

A former worker at Academia Sinica’s Genomics Research Center (GRC) in Taipei was confirmed to have contracted the Delta variant last week, sparking public fear after more than a month of zero local cases and raising concerns about safety practices in one of the country’s most advanced scientific research centers.

James Liao (廖俊智), president of Academia Sinica, said in a legislative briefing on Monday (Dec. 13) that workplace negligence in six aspects was responsible for the incident, per the Liberty Times.

These include failure to duly report a scientist being bitten by lab mice; not working with lab mice in a biosafety cabinet; not following protocols in removing hazmat suits; new personnel not receiving adequate training; lack of supervision and monitoring during experiments; and lax management in lab practices.

Watch as Blue Origin plans to launch its first crew of six to space, with Michael Strahan on board

www.theverge.com/2021/12/1…

The flight comes just after the Federal Aviation Administration confirms that it closed an investigation into Blue Origin’s safety culture without finding any substantial issues. The FAA, which is responsible for issuing licenses for commercial rocket launches, started looking into the company in early October after 21 current and former employees at Blue Origin published an essay alleging a culture of rampant sexual harassment and safety concerns with the company’s rockets. The essay, penned by former Blue Origin head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams, argued that employees are too scared to speak about safety violations over fears of retaliation.

“In the opinion of an engineer who has signed on to this essay, ‘Blue Origin has been lucky that nothing has happened so far,’” the essay stated. “Many of this essay’s authors say they would not fly on a Blue Origin vehicle.”

THE FAA FOUND “NO SPECIFIC SAFETY ISSUES” AFTER INVESTIGATING ALLEGATIONS When the essay came out, the FAA said it was “reviewing the information.” However, as CNN first reported on Friday and the FAA confirmed to The Verge, its investigation is now over. Steven Kulm, a public affairs specialist at the FAA, told The Verge that the FAA found “no specific safety issues” after investigating allegations made against the company’s human spaceflight program. When asked for comment, Linda Mills, the vice president for communications at Blue Origin, said, “The FAA statement is accurate.”

Eight Irish food businesses were served with closure orders in November

www.joe.ie/news/food…

“Food businesses must ensure they have a strong food safety culture in place, including regular and ongoing training of both full and part-time staff,” said Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive of the FSAI.

“Food safety culture embeds best practice standards as a top priority in a food business and is reflected in how it does its daily work. Food safety is everyone’s responsibility in a food business and not just the business owner.

“There is a personal responsibility for managers and all employees to comply with food safety law at all times and in particular, ensure that all information and records provided to inspectors are truthful and accurate.

Spike in pursuits not seen before by law enforcement; Study underway to determine how to control them

kfgo.com/2021/12/0…

FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) – Law enforcement officials say vehicle pursuits are increasing dramatically. Some call it a treacherous trend nationwide. Minnesota and North Dakota are no exception as they deal with the uptick.

Sgt. Wade Kadrmas, safety education officer for the North Dakota Highway Patrol, says they saw a drop in pursuits statewide in 2018 and 2019, but the cases have since skyrocketed. In 2020, there were 113. As of the end of this November, there were 98 statewide. He says it’s hard to understand why there’s been such an increase but he says troopers are well aware of the dangers.

Data from the Moorhead Police Department shows that from 2014 to 2020 the department saw an average of about 9 additional pursuits each year. Based on the 73 pursuits in the city in 2020, they anticipated 82 in 2021. However, police have recorded 100 so far this year and are expecting 111 total by the end of the year.

The Cass County Sheriff’s office has seen significantly fewer pursuits, with 15 cases so far this year, compared to 14 in 2020 and 19 in 2019. The Minnesota State Patrol figures show more than 3,100 pursuits last year.

A research study underway at the University of Minnesota suggests there’s a strong connection between vehicle thefts and “super speeding” that has led to the huge increase in police pursuits.

Dr. Nichole Morris is leading the research on the psychology of why it’s happening at this rate. Morris says there’s been a “safety culture shift.” Her team is charged with answering the “why” and will then move on to what can be done to control the problem with new technology.

Grenfell families’ lawyer says David Cameron should appear at inquiry

jerseyeveningpost.com/news/uk-n…

David Cameron should appear before the Grenfell Tower inquiry after making comments that were “ridiculing” health and safety in the years before the fire, a lawyer has said.

The former Prime Minister made speeches regarding red tape and regulation that had effectively relegated citizens to “a bonfire”, said a barrister representing some of the bereaved and survivors.

Michael Mansfield QC told the public inquiry into the 2017 blaze, which claimed 72 lives, that Mr Cameron should appear at a hearing to explain what he meant by his words.

In 2010, Mr Cameron had said he wanted to “scrap health and safety rules that put people off”, Mr Mansfield said, and followed this the year after by saying “the shadow” of health and safety was holding people back, adding that this was not “how a great nation was built” and that “Britannia didn’t rule the waves with arm bands on”.

Mr Mansfield said such speeches were “ridiculing, humiliating health and safety, and relegating citizens, as it were, to effectively a bonfire”.

He needs to be here to answer what he meant Michael Mansfield QC Mr Mansfield said: “We say he needs to be here to answer what he meant. Because if it’s going to be sent through his proteges, through his ministers, whatever, that he didn’t mean what he said, well let him come and say that.

“But this is what he did say, ‘to kill off the health and safety culture for good’.”

Mr Mansfield, still quoting Mr Cameron, added: “I want 2012 to go down in history not as just the Olympics year or Diamond Jubilee year, but the year we banished a lot of pointless time-wasting from the economy and British life once and for all.

New technology risks must be tackled, warns DNV

www.thedigitalship.com/news/elec…

Shipping has seen a significant improvement in safety over the past decade as higher standards of ship construction and operation have cut the number of casualties, but emerging risks from new fuels and digital technologies must be mitigated to maintain progress, according to DNV.

It follows the release of a new analysis, ‘Maritime Safety 2012-2021: a decade of progress’, from Lloyd’s List Intelligence and DNV that shows a marked decline in casualties, losses and detentions over the period.

Between 2012 and 2021, the tally of annual casualties declined 20 per cent from 1922 to 1537 and losses resulting from casualties dropped 56 per cent from 132 in 2012 to 58 in 2020, while the number of detentions decreased by 60 per cent by the end of 2020 – mostly in the general cargo carrier segment.

This positive trend has come even as the global fleet has increased 46 per cent in deadweight tonnes and 16 per cent in vessel numbers - from 116,000 to more than 130,000 ships of 100 gross tonnes and above - resulting in the number of safety incidents, as a share of the fleet, falling from nearly 5 per cent to 2 per cent.

“Measures such as digitised systems, modern class rules, better vessels, tighter regulatory supervision and, crucially, an improved safety culture have contributed to this welcome safety trend,” said Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO of DNV Maritime.

The new safety culture for hydrogenIAEA team reviews Kalinin safety

world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/…

The power plant comprises four VVER-1000 units that started up in 1984, 1986, 2004 and 2011. It was visited for 18 days by the ten-member Operational Safety Review Team (OSART), made up of experts from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, the UK, the USA and the IAEA.

The review covered the areas of leadership and management for safety, training and qualification, operations, maintenance, technical support, operating experience, radiation protection, chemistry, and accident management. Team leader Ronan Cavellec of the IAEA said, “The OSART team witnessed a strong commitment to safety by plant management and staff.”

Two good practices at Kalinin were highlighted by the IAEA: Rosenergoatom “strengthens stress management and decision-making skills of staff by involving two psychologists during severe accident management exercises”; it also “promotes safety culture among all personnel by encouraging staff to act as ‘safety culture ambassadors’ who proactively communicate and seek feedback on safety related topics.”

The plant should also make some improvements, the IAEA said. The team noted that the plant’s operating experience programme should enhance the identification of root causes of events and the verification of the effectiveness of corrective actions to prevent their recurrence. It should consider improving the preventative maintenance arrangements for important non-safety equipment. The plant should also consider enhancing its practices for equipment labelling.

Ambulance callouts to Amazon warehouses surge almost 50% in the run up to Black Friday

morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b…

AMBULANCE call-outs for health concerns at Amazon warehouses have almost doubled in the run up to Black Friday, with “horrific” reports of workers being sacked for raising Covid-19 concerns, GMB warns. The general workers’ union said that data obtained via freedom of information requests from four ambulance trusts that cover major Amazon sites show that, over a five-year period, November is the worst month for emergency calls. Demand for ambulances grew by 46 per cent between October and November this year as the multinational delivery giant piled on the pressure to fulfil orders, GMB charged. Newly uncovered accident investigation reports obtained by the union reveal an “alarming safety culture” at Amazon, including at the Coventry fulfilment centre, where serious injuries to fingers, limbs and backs caused by collisions with equipment and repetitive strains have been reported.

FCC 5G Approval Questioned by U.S. Lawmakers on Safety Grounds

news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-…

Democratic leaders of House Transportation Cmte call on FCC to provide technical data and give FAA more time to conduct risk assessments about the potential for 5G to interfere with aircraft safety equipment.

Democratic leaders of House Transportation Cmte call on FCC to provide technical data and give FAA more time to conduct risk assessments about the potential for 5G to interfere with aircraft safety equipment.

“The FCC’s and the telecom industry’s approach of ‘deploy now, fix later’ is anathema to the strong safety culture we have created and nourished in aviation over the last 20 years,” lawmakers say NOTE: FCC approved mobile phone providers use of frequencies in …

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Survey finds process safety gaps persist

www.controlglobal.com/articles/…

The latest annual report on corporate safety efforts conducted by Sphera, Chicago, points to continuing gaps in companies’ efforts to bolster process safety. In addition, the Safety Report 2021, issued at the end of October, covers an expanded landscape that includes health and safety, unlike the five previous reports. This reflects the structural adjustments necessitated by COVID-19 to keep workers safe. “The pandemic has highlighted just how quickly safety and risk management processes can be thrown off balance. Safety in all its aspects makes for a resilient and sustainable business model, especially in an era when ESG [environmental, social and governance] goals are of the utmost importance,” notes Sphera CEO and president Paul Marushka. “An effective safety culture and efficient safety process helps ensure a healthy workforce and enhanced business performance. However, we are still seeing a gap in how companies link safety and business performance, which highlights a need for a more holistic approach through data, software and expertise.”

‘Dollars before lives’: Workers hit out at Yallourn safety culture

www.smh.com.au/business/…

Workers at Yallourn power station, which supplies nearly a quarter of Victoria’s electricity, claim its owner Energy Australia has a “culture of dollars before lives” as details emerge about a potentially fatal on-site explosion in March.

The revelation of the March explosion comes as power station workers and Energy Australia await a decision from Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd, QC, on whether there will be any criminal charges over the 2018 workplace death of Yallourn unit controller Graeme Edwards.

Documents from Victoria’s workplace safety regulator, WorkSafe, describe a “catastrophic” explosion in one of Yallourn’s pulverised fuel mills on March 20.

Photographs of the March 20 explosion show the casing around the pulverising mill’s shaft blown apart, sparking a fire and flinging metal debris as far as 20 metres away.

SHE Issues Neglected In Schools- Rari

news.thevoicebw.com/2021/11/s…

Botswana Federation of Public Private & Parastatal Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) Secretary General, Tobokani Rari, says the local education sector environments remain volatile when it comes to issues of Safety Health & Environment.

According to Rari, schools remain the only industries that hold thousands of people at a go.

Speaking at the recent S.H.EMASTERS Schools Safety Summit Botswana, which was held under the theme, UNMUTE SCHOOL SAFETY; A SYSTEMATIC RISK APPROACH TOWARDS BUILDING A RESILIENT SAFETY CULTURE FOR ALL, Rari said the view of BOFEPUSU is that issues of Safety, Health and Environment have been greatly neglected in Schools in the country.

“It is only in the advent of Covid that the school health policies started to be developed. SHE officers got hired and deployed to schools albeit on temporary basis, COVID – 19 specific inspections got carried out. This pandemic caught Botswana off guard with respect to safety in schools and came up as a wake up call. However, teachers still use chalk and duster, which is deemed hazardous and do not have working spaces, with continuous standing and extremely uncomfortable chairs and desks,” he said.

IAEA concludes mission to assess Swiss nuclear safety

www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/…

The IRRS mission to Switzerland was conducted at the request of the Swiss government and hosted by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI), the national regulatory body for safety and security of nuclear facilities.

During the 18-29 October mission, the 20-member team - comprised of 17 senior regulatory experts from 15 countries, as well as 3 IAEA staff members - reviewed facilities and activities regulated by ENSI. This included four operational power reactors, one operational research reactor and a national interim storage facility for radioactive waste.

Activities covered during the safety review included emergency preparedness and response, transport, decommissioning, occupational exposure control, environmental monitoring and public exposure, and the safety interface with nuclear security. The IRRS team also reviewed the licensing process and regulatory guidelines for the ongoing plans for constructing a deep geological waste repository. The mission also used the opportunity to exchange information on national regulatory implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team identified good practices in the area of safety culture. ENSI continuously improves its internal safety culture and promotes the proactive safety culture of licensees through periodic focus groups. The team also noted: the role of ENSI in implementing the regulatory policy and associated requirements for continued safety improvements at nuclear power plants; the collaborative dialogue among all federal cantonal authorities involved in the licensing process of nuclear facilities; and the periodic security background tests for ENSI’s staff, including evaluation of a potential lack of impartiality.

AAA offers ‘fall back’ driving tips as Daylight Saving Time ends

www.recordherald.com/news/6922… With the end of daylight saving time this weekend, motorists will be presented with challenges that could impact pedestrian safety. AAA East Central recommends motorists prepare for potential problems associated with changes in sleep patterns, brighter morning commutes, and darker evening commutes.

“While the extra hour of sleep may feel nice on Sunday morning, the time change can lead to greater risks behind the wheel,” said Lori Cook, safety advisor, AAA East Central. “The time change can affect concentration, attention and decision making, so motorists should take extra precautions in the weeks ahead to avoid putting pedestrians in harm’s way.”

When combined with an earlier dusk, disturbed sleep patterns can become a formula for fatigue-related crashes. Researchers at Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University have found that the effects of the time change on motorists have been shown to last up to two weeks. Moreover, the National Sleep Foundation reports that sleep-deprived drivers cause more than 6,400 deaths and 50,000 debilitating injuries on American roadways each year.

The dangers of sleep deprivation are further highlighted by the latest AAA Traffic Safety Culture Index. Ninety-five percent of motorists view drowsy driving as very or extremely dangerous, but 17% admitted to driving when they were so tired that they had a hard time keeping their eyes open at least once in the previous 30 days before the survey (2020 Traffic Safety Culture Index)

Why financial penalties for employers could be detrimental to worker safety

www.thesafetymag.com/ca/topics…

Basing employee rates on the cost of compensation claims has a negative impact on employee safety, according to John McKinnon, Executive Director, Injured Workers Clinic (IWC).

Raising costs was an idea that emerged in the 1980s, he added. Citing an academic report, McKinnon says that initially there was the idea that financial penalties could positively impact safety culture. The theory was that: “If we want to promote safety in the workplace, we should charge the employers if they’re having injuries and having claims costs. Claims costs should be a good indicator of health and safety practices.”

So, he says, the thought was that we influence health and safety by raising penalties for those who have high claims costs or claims that exceed a certain amount and giving rebates to people whose claims costs were lower. Nevertheless, doing this didn’t seem to actually bring about changes in health and safety practices.

“What we did see was that this triggered employer behaviour that was undesirable,” says McKinnon.

For example, employers started hiring lawyers to oppose claims by injured workers in order to keep their claims costs down. In addition, there was an increase in claims suppression and employers finding various alternatives to reporting.

Part of the IWC’s mission has been to highlight this problem.

“Basing employee rates on the cost of allowed claims creates a great deal of problems for the injured workers involved and the research shows that it doesn’t have any real significant impact on health and safety practices,” says McKinnon.

Life in oilsands camps taking mental health toll on commuter workers, finds U of A study

www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/news/life…

“Everyone’s proud of the safety culture in the oilsands industry, but the industry has not done nearly enough around psychosocial safety,” said U of A sociologist Sara Dorow.

A study from the University of Alberta found commuter workers in the oilsands have worse mental health and more work-related stress than the general population. Mental health advocates in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo area say the report backs up what they have been arguing for years.

The preliminary report included 72 participants who were interviewed between late 2019 and early 2020, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most lived across Alberta and Canada, and worked 10-to-12 hour shifts during rotations that lasted six to 21 days.

The research team, led by sociologist Sara Dorow, found distrust was common towards employers regarding mental health treatment. Any available supports will not solve this crisis if current attitudes towards mental health continue, Dorow said in an interview.

“I didn’t expect that distrust to come up as often as it did but it just kept coming up,” she said. “Mental health prevention needs to be built into safety culture. Everyone’s proud of the safety culture in the oilsands industry, but the industry has not done nearly enough around psychosocial safety.”

Experimental Category Fatal Accident Total Drops Again, Finishes Under FAA Not-To-Exceed Total For Year

www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/…

Safety for experimental category aircraft in the U.S. over the past 12 months continued the trend of improvement seen over the past 15 years, as the fatal accident total fell another 5 percent and finished below the Federal Aviation Administration not-to-exceed number for the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021.

This decrease in fatal accidents mirrors a year of substantial improvement in overall general aviation, even with increased flight hours over the past 12 months. There were 42 fatal accidents in experimental category aircraft during that period (Oct. 1, 2020-Sept. 30, 2021), five below the FAA’s not-to-exceed number set for the year. Of that total, 33 were in amateur-built aircraft.

“This is continued good news on the safety front, as fatal accident totals in the experimental category have fallen 40 percent in the past decade,” said Sean Elliott, EAA’s vice president of advocacy and safety. “Fatal accidents in homebuilt aircraft have dropped by one-third over that time as well, reflecting a safety culture that is more widely accepted and followed as an important part of the balance of freedom and responsibility that is such an essential element of flying.”

New Press Ganey Findings Show Healthcare Safety Scores Fell Amid the Pandemic

www.businesswire.com/news/home…

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A new analysis by Press Ganey finds that safety performance declined across the entire healthcare industry in 2020. These insights indicate a reversal in harm rates that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, had shown improvement.

“Hospitals are in survival mode because of the virus, and this has driven unprecedented levels of burnout, turnover and staffing gaps” Tweet this Press Ganey reviewed patient outcome data from its National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®) submitted by 11,325 units from more than 1,575 U.S. hospitals. The findings showed that COVID-19’s stress on the healthcare industry contributed to a worsening of existing safety event rates such as falls, pressure ulcers and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs).

“Hospitals are in survival mode because of the virus, and this has driven unprecedented levels of burnout, turnover and staffing gaps,” said Jeff Doucette, chief nursing officer, Press Ganey. “Our healthcare workers must give their energy and almost singular focus to COVID-19, and the ripple effect has exacerbated safety lapses and drift in hospitals.”

As a result, safety culture has suffered—and safety events have increased:

Since the onset of COVID-19, patient safety events increased in all seven types of units measured in NDNQI®: adult critical care, medical, step-down, high quality, moderate acuity, surgical and med-surg. Inpatient falls increased across medical, step down, surgical and med-surg units throughout the duration of 2020. Stage 2 hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) increased across all seven unit types in Q4 2020. CLABSI rates increased across high quality and moderate acuity units from Q2 through Q4 2020.

'Safety culture' among fishermen sees fewer accidents, lower insurance

www.cbc.ca/news/cana…

Workers’ compensation rates in the saltwater fishing industry in Nova Scotia are set to fall for the seventh straight year in 2022.

Premiums have fallen 57 per cent since 2015, creating $12 million in annual savings for the industry, but while lower rates reflect an increased focus on safety and fewer accidents, fatalities are still occurring.

Last week, the captain of the Miss Janet went missing from the fishing boat off southwestern Nova Scotia. His body was recovered off the coast of Yarmouth.

“It’s felt in all parts of the province. If you have a loved one that goes out fishing for a living, that sits with you, it is very impactful. I think that sticks in people’s minds, perhaps a bit more than the successes,” said Matthew Duffy, executive director of Fish Safe Nova Scotia, a non-profit advocacy organization.

Blue Origin is taking William Shatner to space — but can it distract from internal criticism?

thehill.com/opinion/t…

William Shatner, famous for his role as Captain James Kirk in “Star Trek,” is going for a ride on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. However, recent allegations by a group of current and former Blue Origin employees may make him think again of going on a 10-minute suborbital hop into the final frontier.

Writing for the Lioness, Alexandra Abrams and 20 other current and former Blue Origin employees describe an alleged toxic corporate culture at Blue Origin rife with sexism, sexual harassment and favoritism. However, one item that may concern Shatner and the other three people who will be riding the New Shepard into space on Oct. 12, is whether the New Shepard is as safe as it could be.

“In the opinion of an engineer who has signed on to this essay, ‘Blue Origin has been lucky that nothing has happened so far.’ Many of this essay’s authors say they would not fly on a Blue Origin vehicle.” The article makes a reference to the dysfunctional safety culture that existed at NASA just prior to the Challenger disaster. In response to the article, the FAA has opened an investigation. On the other hand, New Shepard has launched and landed 17 times with only one partial failure that would not have resulted in loss of life had there been a crew in the capsule.

ADVERTISEMENT The notion that Blue Origin’s corporate culture is toxic would tend to explain why the company is experiencing such a high turnover. According to a story in CNBC, the uptick in resignations has been directly attributed to the leadership of Bob Smith, the CEO handpicked by owner Jeff Bezos.

Poor safety culture at Limerick rowing club ‘a contributory factor’ in incident which left girl (12) with life-changing injuries – report

www.independent.ie/irish-new…

THE poor safety culture at a Limerick rowing club was a contributory factor in an incident that led to a 12-year-old girl suffering life-changing injuries, an investigation has found.

Amy Mulcahy became trapped under a rowing boat after it capsized on the River Shannon in February 2019.

The brave schoolgirl defied the odds to survive. She has since been described by her mother Sharon as her “miracle princess”.

A report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) said contributory and causative factors for the incident extended beyond the decisions of the coaches on the day “to the higher levels of club culture” and the ethos of the sport’s governing body, Rowing Ireland.

It said the absence of a viable safety culture within Athlunkard Boat Club in Limerick and its “complacent and hands-off” attitude towards safety during activities on the river contributed to the incident. The collective inexperience of the young crew was also a risk and contributory factor.

Facebook Whistleblower Drops Bombshell And SEC Suit Alleging Culture Of Profit Over User Safety

amp.hothardware.com/news/face… Haugen, a data scientist and former product manager at Facebook, has revealed herself as the source of a treasure trove of seemingly damning documents alleging that the social network “chooses profit over safety.” It does this by “optimizing for content that gets engagement, or reaction,” even when that content is knowingly harmful, based the social network’s own research, she says. The former product manager was hired in 2019 after being recruited by Facebook. She told 60 Minutes that she accepted the job only after being assured she could help Facebook quell misinformation, due to losing a friend to a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. We all know those knows kinds of people, and they tend to post and share conspiracy theories on social media sites (Facebook included). This is a notion Apple CEO Tim Cook touched on earlier this year, suggesting that “rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories [are] juiced by algorithms.” Disturbed by what she saw, Haugen began secretly copying tens of thousands of documents, which she anonymously shared with The Wall Street Journal. She also filed eight complaints (and possibly more) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month.

BLUE ORIGIN UNDER FIRE

spacepolicyonline.com/news/blue…

That lofty goal ran into a buzzsaw today with the publication of an essay by 21 current and former company employees accusing top company officials of sexual harrassment and a lax safety culture. Alexandra Abrams, former head of Blue Origin employee communications, is the only one who put her name on the essay, but said it represented 20 others from various parts of the Blue Origin organization.

Many of the complaints are directed at the company’s personnel policies particularly regarding sexual harassment, but some criticize the safety culture: “Many of this essay’s authors say they would not fly on a Blue Origin vehicle.”

As the essay points out, by law the FAA is limited to regulating the safety of the public, not passengers, on commercial human spaceflights. It suggests Blue Origin is not prioritizing passenger safety.