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Science & Technology
The Company Behind the Missing Tourist Sub Fired an Employee After He Expressed Safety Concerns
2023-06-21
[GIZMADO] Investigators are currently racing against time to find the Titan, a small commercial submarine that went missing in the North Atlantic on Sunday with five people aboard. Now, new reporting reveals that the company behind the ill-fated underwater tour previously fired an employee after he expressed concern over the safety of the missing vehicle’s design.

OceanGate Expeditions, which charters insanely expensive aquatic trips like the one that went awry this weekend, was previously the subject of a lawsuit involving its former director of marine operations. The exec in question, David Lochridge, lost his job at the company in January of 2018 after he delivered a "scathing" report to the company’s senior management that highlighted numerous safety concerns with its underwater vehicle, TechCrunch reports.

After his termination, OceanGate sued Lochridge, accusing the former executive of leaking confidential corporate information about its submarine. Consequently, Lochridge filed a compulsory counterclaim, alleging wrongful termination for having been a whistleblower regarding safety concerns.

To hear Lochridge tell it, the company’s top brass repeatedly ignored his efforts to draw attention to problems with Titan’s design—problems so serious that he felt they could "pose a safety risk to personnel" and to passengers.

Lochridge became actively concerned about these issues after he was instructed by management to conduct a quality inspection of the submersible. The inspection revealed "numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns," according to the lawsuit.
Posted by:Besoeker

#6  Looks like it's Libertarian Fanthey Limerick Day at Pelican Park...

"Or boring old Uncle Tom Sowell
Who's sorry, but punches a hole
In your boatload of fail,
A supremacist whale
Full of deadly dull history's bestowal."
Posted by: Spinter Schwarzeneggar7343   2023-06-21 22:48  

#5   David never really learned how to play well with others.

He reached the executive suite without social skills? How did that happen?
Posted by: trailing wife   2023-06-21 22:39  

#4  Deep Thought on Old Age, by Apostle
Of Youth. "Take, for instance, John Stossel:
He's rusty and wrong
And annoys the young throng
Like an old submarine. What a fossil!"
Posted by: Spinter Schwarzeneggar7343   2023-06-21 22:32  

#3   The CEO of OceanGate, which is operating the missing Titanic tourist submarine, explains that the company didn’t want to hire any experienced “50 year old white guys” because they weren’t “inspirational.”
Posted by: Beavis   2023-06-21 19:59  

#2  Not stunning and inspirational enough.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2023-06-21 17:24  

#1  Mr. Lochridge's safety concerns had absolutely nothing to do with his termination. David never really learned how to play well with others.
Posted by: Besoeker   2023-06-21 16:52  

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