Eight Down

Eight Down reviews eight maritime casualties over forty-two years beginning with the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975 to the Stellar Daisy in 2017. As a former seafarer and member of the maritime profession for the past fifty years, all of the “Eight” have taken place during my watch. I have found resonance with my own experiences, that has sparked my curiosity. I explore the connective threads that will illustrate how these events are the consequence of what Professor James Reason has called the “Swiss Cheese Model.” I know from my own experience that there were many instances when I might have been but one step away from being a maritime casualty — is it luck? Or is it the awareness or raised consciousness of someone who acts before that last step occurs? I hope to provide insight into the management of change as it relates to safety and the avoidance of traveling through the final hole in a "Swiss Cheese.”