My Space Shuttle Challenger Thesis: Involvement, potentially, of Asbestos.
Each year I post once in January to remember the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, including the potential involvement of asbestos. For this year, my material is at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10167 and at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10618. The second citation includes a wall poster of the Challenger by IBM prior to the ill-fated flight with the statement “Defect Prevention … It matters.”
The involvement of asbestos-containing putty failing to protect the O-rings in the booster was the ultimate failure to set and adhere to good safety practices on a number of levels as discussed in the thesis. I have been told that IBM, which had no direct involvement with the tragedy, went around after the tragedy to collect and destroy these posters. I don’t blame them in that regard, but it is a lesson to all of us that such slogans need to be realized in fact and not just posted on a wall.
Any feedback or comments would be appreciated. Thank you, Marty at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com.
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My research in Chile on asbestos roofing and the respiratory diseases reported by family members living in these homes found that, across four cooperatives of the Bata footwear company, 60% of respondents currently have respiratory illnesses.
In Chile, I created an Asbestos Risk Index (IRA) and its equivalent, the Asbestos Prioritization Index (IPA), to address these types of problems. These tools help determine how vulnerable a family is when living under asbestos roofing and provide a prioritization score that reflects social justice considerations. This allows us to alert communities and identify the risk category each household falls into.
If you would like more information, feel free to send me your questions. I can answer any statistical inquiries with clear explanations that are easy for everyone to understand.
I would also like to invite you to watch a short video I created with the help of AI, in English, as my native language is Spanish:
https://youtu.be/9U2xtHrfgBE
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