Report on substation fire which closed Heathrow
Neso has just published the final report on the North Hyde 275kV substation fire which impacted over 70,000 thousand customers, including Heathrow Airport resulting in a decision to close the airport.
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Titan sub firm used 'intimidation tactics' and 'critically flawed' safety practices, Coast Guard report finds
A damning report published by the US Coast Guard on 5th August 2025 looked at what went wrong in June 2023, when the Titan submersible took five people on an expedition to see the Titanic shipwreck - but the sub imploded, killing all on board.
The implosion of the vessel was caused by the loss of structural integrity of its carbon fibre hull, exposing passengers to "approximately 4,930 pounds per square inch of water pressure", the report found. They died instantaneously.
The tragedy was "preventable", it said.
Investigators found “critically flawed” safety practices at the sub's owner OceanGate Expeditions, and said it used "intimidation tactics" for several years before the disaster to avoid scrutiny.
Much of the blame goes to the Chief Executive Stockton Rush, the US Coast Guard said. He was on board and also died in the disaster. The report found he "exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals".
The company failed to follow safety protocols. It was under financial pressure and had a "toxic workplace environment", using the firing of senior staff and the "looming threat" of being fired to dissuade employees and contractors from expressing safety concerns, the report found.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdjxp4n2371t
img: Public Domain
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According to the report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), switches in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner's cockpit that controlled fuel moved to a "CUTOFF" position.
It said: "Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of one second.
"The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off."
There was then confusion in the cockpit. In the voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he "cut off". The other pilot responds that he did not do so.
The 15-page report did not identify which comments were made by the flight's captain and which were made by the first officer. One of the pilots made a "mayday, mayday, mayday" call just before the crash.
Both pilots were experienced, with around 19,000 flying hours between them, including more than 9,000 on the 787.
img: Prime Minister's Office (GODL-India), GODL-India <https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/Gazette_Notification_OGDL.pdf>, via Wikimedia Commons
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Women are 73% more likely to be seriously injured in a head-on car crash compared with men in the same crash. Female drivers and front-seat passengers are 17% more likely to be killed in a car crash than a male occupant of the same age, according to multiple studies conducted over the last five years.
Chris O’Conner, president and CEO of Humanetics, one of the world’s leading producers of crash test dummies, said that’s for a relatively simple and chilling reason: Cars are not designed to be safe for women.
“If you look back in history, the crash test dummy was designed around a male, and that male became the baseline,” O’Conner said, adding that vehicles are being designed “around a male.”
Republican Sen. Deb Fischer’s "She DRIVES Act" would raise the standards for car safety testing, promoting the use of "crash test dummies that reflect a woman’s lighter frame."
img: ID 968714 © Michelle Marsan | Dreamstime.com
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Current principles around the use of evidence generated by computer software in criminal proceedings were established over two decades ago, with the common law presumption that a computer was operating correctly unless there is evidence to the contrary. In simple terms, ‘the computer is always right’, unless someone can show it is not.
The limitations of this presumption have been highlighted starkly by the Post Office Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted. These convictions were based on evidence which we now know to have been false, due to faults in the Horizon accounting software system, clearly demonstrating the fallibility of evidence produced by software.
Over the twenty-five years since the presumption was last looked at the use of computers and software has evolved beyond all recognition and the Government believes the time is right to re-examine this important area, to ensure it is fit for purpose. The government is now welcoming the views of all those with an interest in this area of criminal procedure, to provide insights to help ensure the criminal justice system is fair and effective, both now, and for years to come.
img: ID 81761866 © Msalena | Dreamstime.com
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