On September 2^nd 2006 RAF nimrod XV230 suffered a catastrophic mid-air fire leading to the total loss of the aircraft and the death of all those on board.

An independent review into the broader issues surrounding the loss of the RAF nimrod was undertaken Charles Haddon – Cave QC.

The report is a 500+pages and highlights a failure of leadership, culture and priorities. Many within the nuclear industry at Sellafield believe the Nimrod review applies to ageing aircraft; however the parallels with the Sellafield site are obvious.

Extracts from the Nimrod Review published 28^th October 2009 are attached below and I leave you to make up your own mind.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

 

Extracts from the Nimrod Review published 28^th October 2009

 

A failure of leadership, culture and priorities

 

Organisational Causes of Loss

 

• A shift from functional organisation to project orientation
• The rolling up of organisations to larger bodies
• Outsourcing to industry
• Organisational trauma
• Shift in culture to business and financial targets at the expense of functional values such as safety
• Primary focus on delivering change, the change programme and strategic goal of cost reduction
• Costs were king, business became the prevailing culture rather than safety- the business was dominated by ‘transformation’ and the need to deliver cuts and change
• The primary focus became delivering the change programme and achieving the strategic goal of 20% reduction in costs in five years (six4five?)
• It transpired that the adoption of cost reduction as the central strategic goal relegated safety risk management to a secondary position
• Attention was drawn to low manning levels, declining experience, failing moral and a perceived overstretch generally
• Because of cost cutting, a can do, will do culture became make do
• There are lots of change managers but nobody manages change
• Cumulative effect of changes ignored

 

People

 

• People with concerns were under considerable pressure to conform and go along with the consensus
• People succumbed to pressure
• Ambitious people saw that delivering change, savings and efficiency targets as demanded were the route to preferment. The zealots were on the fast track to promotion

 

The Nimrod Review concluded that these organisational failures and their effect upon people, which led to the loss of 14 lives, were evident of a pattern which emerged during investigations into:

• The space shuttle Challenger
• The space shuttle Columbia
• The Herald of Free Enterprise
• The Kings Cross fire
• The Marchioness sinking
• BP Texas City

 

However it would appear that the lessons have never been learned

Ageing Plant

 

• Designed and built to standards which would not be acceptable today
• May not have been designed with ease of access (decommissioning?) in mind
• Diminishing pool of engineers with specialist old fashioned engineering skills
• Loss of corporate knowledge and records as personnel retire
• Availability of spares as manufacturers dwindle
• Adding modifications
• Integrating new systems with old
• Different systems and components age at different rates

 

The Nimrod review applies to ageing aircraft; however the parallels with the Sellafield site are obvious.