AGI – The former director of naval operations for the US company whose tourist submarine Titan went missing has been fired for expressing doubts about the safety of the operations.
According to documents from a lawsuit filed in 2018, David Lochridge, a Scottish submarine pilot and diver, had started working for OceanGate – the company that manages the Bathyscaphe Titan, which went missing for two days in the area where Titanic sank – in May 2015 as an independent contractor before being promoted to Director of Marine Operations.
In the lawsuit, filed five years ago in Washington state, Oceangate accused Lochridge of violating a non-disclosure agreement Dissemination of Confidential Information.
Lochridge said he was fired from OceanGate in January 2018 after “expressed safety concerns Critics of Titan’s Experimental and Untested Design”.
concerns ignored
“Lochridge initially raised verbal concerns about it Safety and quality control issues in terms of management,” the document reads. “These verbal communications were ignored.”
Lochridge was “particularly concerned about OceanGate’s rejection.” perform critical tests and non-destructive to the experimental hull design.” Titan’s passengers could be at risk if the submersible reaches extreme depths, Lochridge warned.
Lochridge claimed that the observation hatch was at the forward end of the submarine Built to withstand a certified pressure of 1,300 meters although OceanGate plans to carry passengers to a depth of 3,800 meters.
“OceanGate has refused to pay the manufacturer to build a hatch certified to the required depth of 4,000 meters,” the document reads.
Without certification
Lochridge also “strongly encouraged” OceanGate to use a classification agency such as the American Bureau of Shipping to inspect and certify the Titan.
“Rather than address his concerns or take corrective actions to improve and ensure Titan’s safety, or engage a standard classification agency to carry out the inspection, OceanGate did the exact opposite: They immediately fired Lochridge“, says the document.
According to Insider and The New Republic, which first reported on the lawsuit, the matter was settled out of court in November 2018. Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, is one of five people aboard Titan.
Adding to Lochridge’s safety concerns, the New York Times on Tuesday published a March 2018 letter from the Marine Technology Society to Rush, in which group members commented “unanimous concern” for the Titan.
“Our concern is that Oceangate’s current experimental approach could lead to adverse outcomes (ranging from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry,” the letter reads.
The version of OceanGate
In a court document filed in 2021, CNN reports, OceanGate’s legal representative explained the details of a Hull Monitoring System integrated into the Titan, which he described as “an unprecedented safety feature”.
The document details the Titan’s testing and its specifications, including the fact that it has undergone more than 50 test dives, and details its almost 5 inch thick carbon fiber and titanium hull.
The document claims that OceanGate’s submarine is Result of more than eight years of workincluding “detailed engineering and development studies at a company that awarded a $5 million contract for the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory.”
However, according to the University of Washington, the lab never did any design or construction for the Titan. In a statement to CNN, Kevin Williams, the executive director of UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory, said the lab’s experience was “just about implementation in.” shallow watersand “the laboratory was not involved in the design, construction or testing of the submersible used in the expedition to the wreck of the Titanic”.
In a 2019 post on OceanGate’s website, the company explained that most shipping companies “require the ‘classification’ of chartered vessels by an independent group such as the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), DNV/GL, Lloyd’s Register or one of require many others.” .”
This “scoring system” ensures that ships are present designed and built according to the regulations such as the number of life rafts or the type of materials used.
But The Titan submarine is unclassified Because, the company argues, “the classification of innovative projects often requires an approval process lasting several years, which makes rapid innovation difficult.”
Classification agencies “do not ensure operators are following proper operational procedures and decision-making processes, two much more important areas.” Reduce risks at sea. The vast majority of marine (and aviation) accidents are due to operator error, not mechanical failure.”
“The classification gives shipowners, insurers and regulators the assurance that ships are designed, built and tested to recognized standards. The classification can be effective Filter out unsatisfactory designers and buildersbut the established standards do little to weed out operators of inferior ships, as classification agencies only focus on validating the physical ship.”