How to Sink a $3B Dollar Submarine: Leave a Hatch Open (opens in new tab)

Yes, people do make mistakes; often. Airline pilots have long checklists of things they have to do before taking off, and more checklists for dealing with problems that inevitably crop up.

A doctor named Atul Gawande wrote a book named The Checklist Manifesto https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/...

Early in his career he did some research that showed that a simple pre-surgery checklist could reduce serious complications by more than a third. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/dr-atul-gawande-surgical...

Sure, but that's why modern cars have sensors and warnings when you accidentally leave a door open or don't use the seatbelt.

If leaving a hatch open causes one year of repairs and it contains a nuclear reactor maybe some automated sensors or checklists would be quite sensible.

Human error that can be easily predicted and fixed with tech is kind of a design issue though. Shouldn't those all have sensors on them to stop this? People use Google calendar to remember what day is Mother's day, submarines can do the same.

Really all human error that has happened before is predictable. My rule for myself is to assume any mistake I've ever made, or imagined making, is possible.

My car will not start in gear, nor will it start without a foot on the brake.

Understanding and preventing human error is a basic part of design. Especially for things that cost $3B.

When it’s a nuclear submarine and cost nearly $3 billion, you aren’t allowed to make mistakes of this magnitude. It really is that simple.

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