Seminar: Lessons of the Brumadinho Tailings Dam Disaster

Delivered by Emeritus Professor Andrew Hopkins, this presentation concerns the organisational causes for the Brumadinho disaster.  Among other things it deals with

• the failure of  dam safety auditors  to alert senior managers to the risk of failure

• the effect of production incentive payments on Vale’s tailings engineers

• the lack of any risk control in Vale’s iron ore business unit by Vale staff external to this business unit

• the lack of any reliable mechanisms by which the Board could inform itself about risks.

• the tendency of the board to trust what it was told rather than question it.

The presentation draws on two main sources - 

• A major report into the accident chaired by a retired judge of the Brazilian supreme court.

• an extensive interview with a Vale Board member

The presentation also considers briefly the extent to which the Global Industry Standard for Tailings Management embodies these organisational lessons.

Speaker: