“I always hoped that this would not happen. But I knew that if they continued their work in this way and with this defective equipment, there would be an incident,” said David Lochridge BBC.
In June 2023, the submarine imploded, killing all five people on board – including the president of Oceangate, Stockton Rush.
The United States Coast Guard report (USCG), published on Tuesday, showed that the main cause of the disaster was the Ocelange neglect in the field of safety, tests and maintenance.
“So much could be done differently. From the design, through construction, to exploitation – people were cheated” Lochridge said in an interview with the BBC.
Lochridge joined the oceangate seven years earlier as a maritime operations director. He moved his family from Scotland to the United States and was full of enthusiasm towards the company's ambition. “As a maritime operations director, I am responsible for everyone,” he said in an interview with BBC News.
Titan without a safety certificate
The prototype of the new Titan submarine was developed in cooperation with the Laboratory of Physics of the Washington University (APL). The plan was to make a hull – a part in which passengers were to sit – made of carbon fiber.
No submarine for deep diving was previously built of this material – most have hulls made of titanium or steel. Lochridge, however, trusted the APL team.
In the summer of 2016, he began to have doubts about the project. Oceangate has completed cooperation with APL and decided to transfer the design and construction of Titan to his own enterprise.
Lochridge did not have the same trust in Oceld engineers. When the parts for Titan began to flow in, and the ship took shape, Lochridge noticed, among others Visible gaps in the material, areas where the layers of carbon fiber spread. He also identified problems with other key components.
However, the most disturbing, he learned that Titan would not have an independent security certificate.
Oceangate has released a signalist
In January 2018, he again presented his fears to Stockton Rush. This time Rush asked him to inspect the ship. Titan was at a key moment of development. Passengers have already paid advances for diving to Titanic planned for a later period of this year. Test diving was to start in the Bahamas.
Lochridge wanted the oceangate to delay these plans. “I prepared a report and sent it to all directors in the company,” says BBC.
The next day he was called to meet Rush and several other oceangate employees. The transcription of a two -hour meeting, during which a detailed report was analyzed, shows that there was a sharp exchange between Lochridge and Rush. To Lochridge's surprise, he was released immediately after this meeting.
American institutions knew about Titan's problems. Osha and USCG are shifting responsibility
However, he was so concerned about Titan's case that he contacted the American administration of occupational health and safety (OSHA).
Osha informed him that his case is urgent because it concerns public safety and that he would be covered by a signalist protection program, aimed at protecting employees against retaliation from employers who report safety concerns in the workplace.
As part of this process, Osha gave Lochridge's concerns about the Titan of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in February 2018, however, Lochridge claims that after Osha wrote to Oceangate with information about the initiation of an investigation, everything changed.
In March, Oceangate demanded that Lochridge a withdrawal of a complaint to Osh and payment of 10,000. hole. court costs. Lochridge refused.
In July 2018, Oceangate sued Lochridge and his wife Carole for violating the contract, misconception of trade secrets, fraud and theft. In the following month, Lochridge filed a mutual lawsuit for incorrect release.
Lochridge maintains that OSHA was slowly active throughout the process and did not provide him with protection against constant repression on the oceanga side.
“I donated all the documentation, every few weeks I called Osha,” he said. “Osha did nothing.”
He warned through Titan and Oceld. “They crushed us”
In December 2018, under the growing pressure on the part of Oceangate lawyers, Lochridge and his wife decided to discontinue the case.
This meant a settlement in court proceedings, and as part of this agreement, Lochridge withdrew his complaint to Osh. Osha suspended the investigation and also informed the United States Coast Guard about the suspension of the complaint. Lochridge also signed a confidentiality agreement.
“Carole and I did everything in our power, but we came to the point where … we had nothing to offer anymore. They crushed us” – he says.
In June 2023, Titan disappeared with five people on board. The ship's wreck was found scattered over the bottom of the ocean.
During public auditions of the US coasting guard, which took place last year, Lochridge criticized Osha for lack of action.
In response to the words of Mr. Lochridge, OSHA spokesman said that the signaling program of the signalist protection is limited to protecting natural persons against retaliation from the employer.
Osha stated that she did not examine the allegations of signalists regarding public security … but she directs them to the appropriate agency – in this case to the Coast Guard of the United States.
The spokesman said: “Coast Guard, not Osha, had jurisdiction to examine Mr. Lochridge's allegations regarding the safe design and construction of sea ships.”
The report of the US Coast Guard regarding the disaster, however, agrees with the opinion of Lochridge and states that the slow investigation by Osh was a lost chance for early intervention of government.
The report also criticized the lack of effective communication and coordination between OSHA and the United States coastal guard (USCG).
The investigation showed that the e-mail from Osh to the Coast Guard regarding the complaint of Mr. Lochridge was not received. He was sent to an employee responsible for monitoring OSHA matters, but this employee went to a new position at the agency.
Jason Neubauer, chairman of the United States Coast Guard Investigation Committee (USCG), said the BBC that the coast guard could do more. “The system did not work in this case,” he assessed.
Source: BBC
