Command and Control-PBS

[Ksheed]

I caught the tail end of this documentary last night. I have yet to watch it in full, but intend too. I thought I would share it in advance of viewing it myself. The 20 minutes I caught was pretty interesting though.


http://www.pbs.org/video/2365927736/


Here is a article about it as well:http://www.npr.org/2016/09/15/493792864/in-chilling-documentary-command-and-control-a-nuclear-explosion-narrowly-avoided

When a nuclear bomb is in danger of accidental detonation, established procedures are carefully followed, and cooperation takes precedence over assigning blame. Or so the hopeful viewer might think before seeing Command and Control, a PBS American Experience documentary now in limited theatrical release before its broadcast debut.


The movie, developed by director Robert Kenner from Eric Schlosser's book of the same name, reveals how a warhead atop a Titan II missile risked explosion in 1980 at a Strategic Air Command (SAC) silo near Damascus, Arkansas. Workers — one of whom was killed — scrambled to prevent disaster. But the force that prevented a wider catastrophe was sheer luck.

[Marlin]

I started to watch it but at 1.5 hours I will have to defer to another time. It does look interesting. Thanks for the link.

[Ksheed]

Within 20 minutes of the the video, I had this list of items throwing up red flags in my head:


1. End of Shift
2. Long Work Hours
3. Inadequate Sleep Patterns
4. Wrong Parts Causing Work Delays
5. Young/Inexperienced Workers
6. Unfamiliar/New Work Instructions
7. Failure to Follow Work Instructions
8. Wrong Tool For the Job
9. Dropped Objects
10. Delay/Slow to Report Issues
11. No Plan For Worst Case Scenario


Any of those sound familiar?


Overall I'd say it's a pretty good documentary even though it does jump around a bit. A bit heart wrenching listening to the personnel involved telling their accounts of the event and how it affected their life afterwards.