Causality

100

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.

Recent Episodes
  • 58: West Fertilizer Company
    Mar 31, 2025 – 00:30:43
  • 57: Stardust Nightclub
    Jan 8, 2025 – 00:27:40
  • 56: BP Husky Toledo
    Dec 18, 2024 – 00:40:08
  • 55: CrowdStrike
    Oct 19, 2024 – 00:29:04
  • 54: Midland Resource Recovery
    Jun 25, 2024 – 00:28:01
  • 53: Callide C Blackout
    Mar 30, 2024 – 00:50:52
  • 52: Colonial Pipeline
    Dec 10, 2023 – 00:26:12
  • 51: I35 West
    Aug 27, 2023 – 00:36:00
  • 50: 737 MAX Ethiopian Air
    Apr 23, 2023 – 00:52:07
  • 49: Carmel Fireworks Explosion
    Jan 18, 2023 – 00:29:04
  • 48: Instituto Goiano de Radioterapia
    Nov 18, 2022 – 00:33:09
  • 47: Hyatt Regency Kansas City
    Jul 16, 2022 – 00:41:31
  • 46: Mindbender
    May 17, 2022 – 00:29:29
  • 45: Granville
    Apr 2, 2022 – 00:25:53
  • 44: Beirut Warehouse 12
    Feb 11, 2022 – 00:31:55
  • 43: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
    Nov 10, 2021 – 00:27:21
  • 42: Royal Canberra Hospital
    Sep 17, 2021 – 00:45:14
  • 41: Florida International University
    Jul 9, 2021 – 00:43:10
  • 40: Ocean Ranger
    May 25, 2021 – 00:46:36
  • 39: Therac-25
    Mar 23, 2021 – 00:53:10
  • 38: Thunder River Rapids
    Jan 24, 2021 – 00:36:35
  • 37: Variola Birmingham
    Nov 27, 2020 – 00:34:30
  • 36: Big Dig
    Sep 16, 2020 – 00:31:47
  • 35: San Bruno
    Jul 27, 2020 – 00:49:33
  • 34: Aberfan
    May 8, 2020 – 00:34:44
  • 33: 737 MAX
    Jan 31, 2020 – 01:05:52
  • 32: Walkerton
    Dec 7, 2019 – 00:33:48
  • 31: Black Energy
    Oct 4, 2019 – 00:26:13
  • 30: Tim Maia
    Jul 5, 2019 – 00:19:06
  • 29: Flight 1549
    Jun 5, 2019 – 00:23:29
  • 28: Hotel New World
    May 10, 2019 – 00:25:18
  • 27: Gare De Lyon
    Apr 5, 2019 – 00:28:05
  • 26: Bhopal
    Feb 8, 2019 – 00:35:53
  • 25: Deepwater Horizon
    Jan 9, 2019 – 00:47:22
  • 24: Columbia
    Dec 14, 2018 – 00:26:39
  • 23: Kipton
    Sep 1, 2018 – 00:19:25
  • 22: Chernobyl
    Jul 8, 2018 – 00:47:06
  • 21: Milford Haven
    Apr 30, 2018 – 00:31:39
  • 20: Stava Dam
    Feb 25, 2018 – 00:21:45
  • 19: Smiler
    Nov 23, 2017 – 00:20:00
  • 18: The Fog
    Sep 15, 2017 – 00:20:03
  • 17: Three Mile Island
    Jun 3, 2017 – 00:32:31
  • 16: Tenerife
    Mar 11, 2017 – 00:28:45
  • 15: Sampoong Department Store
    Jan 28, 2017 – 00:27:36
  • 14: Concorde
    Dec 23, 2016 – 00:25:06
  • 13: Costa Concordia
    Nov 13, 2016 – 00:24:32
  • 12: Mont Blanc Tunnel
    Sep 30, 2016 – 00:23:04
  • 11: Flint Michigan
    Jul 3, 2016 – 00:26:45
  • 10: The Comet
    Jun 5, 2016 – 00:24:10
  • 9: Hindenburg
    Apr 27, 2016 – 00:27:18
Recent Reviews
  • Dougjr17
    Outstanding Work
    Deeply researched does not begin to describe how outstanding these episodes are - highly recommended, ideal pace of information delivery, well produced, A+++
  • Sugar Smacks
    Enjoy these immensely!
    I’m not an engineer and I still enjoy these episodes. He breaks things down in layperson’s terms and does a great job of explaining various types of failure, and more importantly identifying opportunities missed to prevent the outcome. I listen with my now 15 year old son because it provides some fantastic examples of smart people doing not-smart things for perfectly human reasons. My father is a retired submarine commander, maybe you could do one on the USS Thresher or the USS Scorpion? He talked about them a little today and it was fascinating!
  • Fluffster Normalpaws
    Well Done
    Reading “Midnight in Chernobyl” book right now. This Chernobyl episode is a great addition to augment the book. Getting a handle on the incident in 3D perspective at this point. Very professional & well-presented. Looking forward to hearing the other topics in this pod now. Thank you for this stellar level of quality. . . Update: Please cover the Titan submarine implosion tragedy, once you have the adequate info available to analyze it. Best wishes to you & thank you for your thorough work
  • RealLemonPlease
    New episodes?
    I’m not even an engineer but this is the first podcast I’ve ever financially supported - it’s so well done! I haven’t seen as many new episodes recently; hope all is well.
  • Noelle L Riley
    Absolutely fantastic
    The disasters covered aren’t overly dramatized and are presented factually with an aspect I think many shows are missing: what was learned and what could be done differently. This is one of my new favorite podcasts
  • Notafedemployee
    Subscription only?
    The latest episode is only available through a subscription. Lame.
  • Amy True Crime Review
    Incredible!
    There is no better researched podcast than this one. Amazing telling of disasters with emphasis on engineering and science.
  • rallycar27
    Fantastic
    Wish episodes came out more often! This is a real gem. Someone on another podcast mentioned it off the cuff and I’m glad I found it and subscribed. It’s hard to find good podcasts with so many bad shows out there and half of them aren’t even still running but still show up in the podcast directory. To the host/creator, please market this more and get the word out! I think it has a broader appeal than just nerds like me (us?)!
  • tinyRoBOTXXL
    Best podcast i've ever listened 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.
  • Rickey Smithers
    One of those Exceptional Podcasts
    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.
  • cmdlvd
    Dreamy narrator
    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!
  • kysciguy
    Great podcast!
    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!
  • skylarkishome
    Please make more
    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!
  • interested party ny
    How things go wrong
    Great analysis of various disasters. Fascinating how greed has become one of the main villians in these disasters.
  • Levint7012
    From a maintenance perspective amazing
    I am a maintenance electrician and it is so interesting how incorrect procedures or “tribal learning” leads to dangerous outcomes
  • vinnievroom
    I actually get a bit excited when a new one comes out.
    A podcast for those with a brain
  • appleseeds11
    really interesting
    This podcast is awesome. Really interesting details explaining disasters from an engineering point of view.
  • NUMCV
    Excellent detail!
    And incredibly well researched program. Covers all kinds of interesting historical events from a technical, risk, and practical viewpoint.I only wish it came out more often!
  • Drew Stephens
    Wonderfully in-depth explanations by an engineer
    John explains the causes of disasters in great detail—many of them about incredibly interesting events that I did’t even know about.
  • PlanetBeef
    One of the most interesting podcasts
    Fascinating take on the world.
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