They are images that stay with us; a bridge collapsing amidst the chaos of peak hour traffic, a state-of-the-art high-speed train fatally crashing just a year into its service, an oil spill leaking into a vulnerable marine habitat for almost three months. Though there is no denying the lasting effect that events like these continue to have on communities and environments, what unites them above all else is that they are far from inexplicable tragedies. As the documentary series When Big Things Go Wrong, reveals, behind most of these kinds of disasters lies the inescapable reality of human error and the lingering question of where, or in many cases with who, responsibility for it lies.
It was the evening of August 1st, 2007 in Minneapolis when, just after 6pm local time, the I-35 bridge, which had provided commuters safe passage over the Mississippi River for forty years, collapsed without warning. That single moment in time saw 13 people killed, one hundred and eleven vehicles plunged into the river below, and 140 people injured. The bridge’s collapse, explored in When Big Things Go Wrong, sent shockwaves across the United States, and almost immediately, many around the country, and indeed the world, began to question how an enormous steel bridge could buckle, with no indication of any imminent danger. There simply had to be an explanation, but could the answer lie in the very design of the bridge itself?
As episode continues, however, it becomes clear that such an answer is not always easy to find in these situations. With the assistance of clues from other structures and catastrophes, including a bridge in Florida and a crane collapse in Wisconsin, the mystery of what happened on that fateful summer evening becomes a story defined by the fatal combination of engineering missteps and incredibly bad luck. Upon further examination, it appears that this disaster was a long time coming. For those on the bridge that day, they, like so many caught up in similar history making moments, were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This combination of flawed design and misfortune turns out to be all too common with these tragedies. Another episode of the series takes a look at the 2013 Santiago de Compostela derailment, Spain’s worst rail accident in forty years. How the Alvia train was able to travel at almost twice the recommended speed for the portion of track when the crash took place was a question that refused to go away. Worse still was the realisation that there was nothing in place to prevent trains from reaching such speeds, placing responsibility entirely in the hands of those at the helm. It’s almost unfathomable that, with the level of ingenuity required to develop this technology, and implement it on such a scale, little thought was seemingly given to ensuring that it could not fall victim to the poor judgement of just one person.
Though investigations took place, and charges were eventually laid against the driver of the train, there was a sense that culpability for the death of seventy nine passengers on board extended far beyond a single individual. In comparing the events of that day to an out of control Venetian cruise liner, a military air crash in Afghanistan, and the Deep Water horizon tragedy that destroyed large parts of the marine habitat in the Gulf of Mexico, this episode, along with those that follow, pieces together a far more complex notion of blame.
In each of the series’ six parts, eyewitness accounts of these disasters, along with the opinions of engineering experts and detailed dynamic diagrams of the events as they unfold, offer unparalleled insight into their likely cause.
It’s impossible to look away as these disasters are recounted, and we are reminded that, though society is quick to celebrate human achievement, and rightly so, it is still learning to accept the inevitability of imperfection and the enormity of its consequences. As incredible as modern technology can be, and as exciting as its potential is, When Big Things Go Wrong reiterates through its account of these events that these are high stake decisions, with countless lives on the line. All it takes is one mistake to turn design success into a heartbreaking statistic.
I-35 bridge collapse survivor Lindsay Walz. Source: Plimsoll Productions
There’s no doubt that the world of engineering will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, but the series affirms that past mistakes must be at the forefront of discussions around advancement as our global community builds into the future. With each episode, and new investigation, the blame game that so often follows these disasters is shown to be fundamentally futile as each part of their construction and operation is an interwoven web of individuals and technologies. Rather than attempting to hold a single entity responsible, these investigations aim to achieve a sense of closure and promote systemic change that focuses on prevention. Avoiding such destruction in the future has to be the ultimate goal as, once the damage is done, rebuilding trust is the most challenging task of all.
See Big Things Go Wrong Sundays from 2 January at 7:45pm on SBS Viceland, exploring disasters including the mid-air explosion of a plane (the quick-thinking pilot manages a crash landing, saving 184 passengers, but how could the explosion happen?); another bridge collapse, this one in Italy; and an under-construction hotel that comes crashing to the ground. In each, the series looks at what happened, and links to other disasters around the world. Episodes will be after they air:
