Textual evidence from the investigation of disasters shows that accidents have a background, cultural context, and history. Examples of recent disasters which have a background of human failure due to the complexity of the system are the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident and the deepwater horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident occurred in 2011. Even though the disaster was triggered by a natural agent, i.e., an earthquake, investigations have shown the existence of a human element that contributed to the disaster. For example, the Fukushima plants did shut down as planned after the earthquake struck, but the subsequent Tsunami overwhelmed the remaining power back up and the safety systems. The chain of events leading to the eventual disaster could have been foreseen and prevented early in advance. For instance, the vulnerability to loss of power in case of a major earthquake or tsunami had been pointed out several years before the accident. However, there was a defensive attitude by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operators of the plant.
Mellahi and Wilkinson argued that the defensive culture combined with the deference of mitigation actions implied that safety warnings were disregarded. Therefore, the disaster partly occurred due to the failure to investigate the risks and improvement of the safety measures. In relation to the deepwater horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there is scanty information on the key contributing factor to the disaster that took place in 2010. However, some investigations have theorized systematic human error in the drilling process. In addition, marine reports by 2012, two years after the disaster showed that there were still some leakages that endangered the aquatic ecosystem.
Just like the other man-manmade disasters, the two recent examples point to underlying pathologies which were foreseen but were left to continue due to complexities in the organizations. For instance, minor failures were rated as inconsequential. With time, the ‘inconsequential’ failures led to the chain of events that kept piling pressure on the systems. The systems were overwhelmed by the pressure, and hence, the disastrous malfunction. Manmade disasters can be overcome if organizations move past organizational complexities and processes that hinder response to safety warnings.