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The world witnessed a great tragedy unfold as remnants of the OceanGate submersible were found on the ocean floor not far from the Titanic wreckage. While we must be patient and await the full investigation, we are left with several widely reported and troubling quotes from OceanGate's late CEO, Stockton Rush, that spoke to the perceived tradeoff between safety, quality, and innovation.
OceanGate seemingly encountered many concerns over the years from industry experts, principally when it opted to waive an independent safety verification of its submersible. Due to this heavily criticized decision, The Marine Technology Society's committee warned OceanGate that their decision "risked a potentially catastrophic failure." In response, the company reportedly stated, "Innovation in design is outside of an already accepted system."
The safety regulations and oversight viewed as a hindrance to innovative growth might have produced a different outcome. As the President and CEO of a company that advises clients on safety and operational performance, I know that safety, quality, and innovation often propel each other forward in tandem; to forgo one can have catastrophic ramifications. Quality and safety must be engineered into the very fibers of groundbreaking innovation to achieve sustainable results over the long haul. Without the appropriate prioritization of safety, unsustainable innovation is risked, similar to the risk that OceanGate's implosion could have on the submersible industry. For business leaders looking to enhance the safety culture in their workplace, or industry-wide, there are lessons from across multiple industries.
The aviation industry has grown leaps and bounds in innovation and safety. Passengers no longer board an aircraft wondering whether they'll safely arrive at their destination. Through a focus on engineering, understanding human performance and culture, and continued learning from accidents and near misses, aviation fatalities in the U.S. have decreased by 95%, as measured by deaths per 100 million passengers. Travelers have near certainty that the aircraft will perform how it's intended. The aviation industry has emphasized safety and safety culture over the years, leading to exponential growth in airline passengers. According to a 2021 article in The Wall Street Journal, U.S. airlines have transported over 8 billion passengers over the last 12 years without a fatal crash. Advancements in aviation technology, safety transformations, and a culture that encourages speaking up when safety concerns arise have led to a booming industry that passengers continue to trust.
However, the airline industry hasn't been overall exempt from scrutiny. Small missteps in the innovation process cost Boeing sizeable amounts of money. Beginning in 2012, Boeing was consistently the largest aircraft manufacturer with a very strong safety reputation until that streak came to a screeching halt when a second B737-MAX crashed in Ethiopia in 2019. Boeing then had to postpone plans to study and develop New Midsized Airplanes (NMA) to eventually replace the 757 and 767 because of the immediate need to fix their oversight and successfully get the 737-MAX back in flight.
The automotive industry has also made giant strides in innovation while incorporating a strong safety lens. Driver assistance technologies such as lane-keeping assistance and forward collision warnings have transformed the automotive industry expectations from simply protecting passengers in a crash to preventing a collision altogether.
Professor Steven Spears, author of "The High-Velocity Edge," penned one of the most influential books on operational performance. He explores the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power Propulsion Program in one of his chapters. The first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, entered the U.S. Navy fleet in 1954. The speed at which this new technology was introduced was most impressive, considering nuclear technology was only explored a decade prior, and the program wasn't officially established until 1949. Launching this new technology required deep innovation, new materials, and the creation of new manufacturing systems. Since the launch of the Nautilus submarine, the Navy hasn't experienced a single reactor-related casualty or escape of radiation.
Spears says the U.S. Navy embodied "the discipline of engineering — whatever knowledge the group had, it was assumed to be inadequate (...) there was no room for guessing; learning had to be constant and fast, not only experiential but experimental." In stark contrast, before the dissolution of the USSR, the Soviet fleet endured many nuclear catastrophes involving considerable injuries, fatalities, and environmental pollution. When speaking of the U.S. Navy's operational performance success, Spears states, "Even if you didn't succeed, you created an opportunity to learn to succeed."
Psychological safety is also essential to the innovation process to ensure people feel comfortable expressing their ideas and surface potential issues without fear of negative consequences. In 2018, OceanGate reportedly fired its director of marine operations, who stepped forward to voice concerns that OceanGate "wasn't properly testing the vessel's carbon fiber hull." OceanGate allegedly gave their former employee just minutes to gather his belongings and leave. Research has found a correlation between psychological safety and innovative work behavior. In other words, when employees feel safe in their work environment, they are more likely to take calculated risks, collaborate and try new ideas, leading to increased innovation.
Sustainable innovation can only be achieved where safety and quality are engineered in the design process. In the short term, quality and safety shortcuts may appear to accelerate innovation, yet they only lead to unendurable and fleeting innovation.