Brady Heywood Podcast

Sean Brady
  • 4.9 (107)
  • Science

A show about engineering failures and disasters. We examine the technical, human and organisational causes of failure, and explore why our decision-making is not nearly as rational as we’d like to think.

  1. Aug 25

    Announcement: The Brady Heywood Podcast is coming back

    The Brady Heywood Podcast is coming back and the first episode drops on Tuesday 3 November. Instead of standalone episodes, we'll be doing limited series' where we cover one story or topic across several episode released weekly. The first series is Piper Alpha, one of the worst offshore disasters in history. In the meantime, we've released a new long-form video on the Brady Heywood YouTube channel examining the Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashes of 2018 and 2019 through a complex systems thinking lens. If you like this podcast, you'll like the video. Resources and links How Complex Systems Fail: Lessons from the Boeing 737 MAX Crashes - Full video   Connect: Simplifying Complexity on Apple Podcasts Simplifying Complexity on Spotify Simplifying Complexity on Twitter Sean Brady on Twitter Sean Brady on LinkedIn Brady Heywood website   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  2. 11/21/2022

    Introducing 'Simplifying Complexity'

    As you can tell by the title of this episode this isn’t a normal episode of The Brady Heywood Podcast. In today’s episode we introduce you to a new show that we’ve been working on called Simplifying Complexity, a podcast all about complexity science. Simplifying Complexity is all about understanding the underlying principles that govern how systems work; systems as diverse as economies, ecologies, cities and countries. In each episode, we'll meet with the experts, and learn everything from how economies can go boom or bust, to how the Medicis wielded power in Venice in the 1400s, and why large animals live longer than small animals. And above all, we'll learn about the principles that tie all of these things together.  In the Brady Heywood Podcast, you learnt how things failed, from a technical standpoint, and an organisational standpoint. Simplifying Complexity takes us one step further, to understand how systems work, and just as importantly, how they fail. If you're interested, we've included a teaser of episode one of Simplifying Complexity, where we're joined by David Krakauer from the Santa Fe Institute, who's going to introduce us to the basics and the history of complexity science.   Connect: Simplifying Complexity on Apple Podcasts Simplifying Complexity on Spotify Simplifying Complexity on Twitter Sean Brady on Twitter Sean Brady on LinkedIn Brady Heywood website This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Introducing 'Simplifying Complexity'

  3. 08/31/2021

    Miami Bridge Failure - Part 3

    In today's episode, we bring to a close our three-part series on the collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Miami, Florida, in 2018. In part one, you heard about the cracks in the bridge and how nothing was done about them. And in part two, you heard about the serious errors that were made in the bridge's design. In this episode, we take a deep dive into two unanswered questions from this failure: just why did everyone ignore the cracks in the bridge; and why did a rigorous checking process not identify the errors in the bridge's design? This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Miami Bridge Failure - Part 3

  4. 07/31/2021

    Miami Bridge Failure - Part 2

    Today's episode is the second of a three-part series on the 2018 collapse of the International University Pedestrian Bridge in Miami, Florida. In our last episode, you heard how a pedestrian bridge under construction at the Florida International University collapsed in 2018 and killed six people. While many things came together to cause the collapse of this structure, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) identified some serious errors in the design of the bridge. In this episode, we take a deep dive into these serious design errors as we attempt to understand why this tragedy occurred.   Resources and links: NTSB Illustrated Digest on the collapse This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Miami Bridge Failure - Part 2

  5. 06/30/2021

    Miami Bridge Failure - Part 1

    Today's episode is the first of a three-part series about the 2018 collapse of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge in Miami, Florida. In this part, you'll hear how the signals which could have prevented the collapse of the bridge were ignored, leading to the deaths of six people. You'll also hear how the checks and balances put in place to identify these bad decisions failed. And how this bridge gave warning sign after warning sign that something was wrong, but the parties involved did little to act. The more you hear about what happened, the harder you'll find it to understand why it happened. This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Miami Bridge Failure - Part 1

  6. 05/31/2021

    The Brady Review

    Today's episode is a little different. It explores 'The Brady Review', a report Brady Heywood undertook on the mining and quarrying industry in Queensland, Australia. From January 2000 until the end of July 2019, 47 people lost their lives in the mining and quarrying industry in Queensland, Australia. That's an average of 2.4 fatalities per year, or 12 fatalities in any five year period. What's causing these fatalities? Is it that the mining industry is inherently hazardous? Or is it bad luck or human error?   Resources and links: The Brady Review report Rethinking Safety podcast Causal Diagram example This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    The Brady Review

  7. 04/30/2021

    The Pike River Mine Disaster - Part 3

    CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains vivid descriptions of how the miners, who lost their lives in the disaster, died. Listener discretion is advised.   In this final episode of our three-part series on the Pike River Mine disaster, we bring the story to a close. We examine what took place on the day of the disaster, 19 November, 2010.   Resources and links: Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy   This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    The Pike River Mine Disaster - Part 3

  8. 03/31/2021

    The Pike River Mine Disaster - Part 2

    In part one of this three-part series on the Pike River mine disaster, you heard what took place in the minutes, hours and days following the methane explosion at the mine. In this episode, we’ll step back and look at the history of the mine. You’ll hear how the factors that led to the explosion didn't suddenly present themselves on 19 November 2010. Instead, they had been building up over the months and years earlier.   Resources and links: Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    The Pike River Mine Disaster - Part 2
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4.9
out of 5
107 Ratings

About

A show about engineering failures and disasters. We examine the technical, human and organisational causes of failure, and explore why our decision-making is not nearly as rational as we’d like to think.

Information

  • Creator
    Sean Brady
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    38
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Brady Heywood
  • Show Website
    Brady Heywood Podcast