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.

Emeritus Professor Andrew Hopkins
Speaker:                          
Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Australian National University
Member of the Expert Panel that drafted the Global Industry Standard for Tailings Management
Co-Author (with Deanna Kemp) of Credibility Crisis: Brumadinho and the Politics of Mining Industry Reform

Venue

Level 4, Sustainable Mineral Institute,
Sir James Foots Building #47A, Cnr Staff House Road,
The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus
Room: 
Seminar Room