Learning from previous events and other industries
Elizabeth Campbell, Leader of RBKC, addresses council following Grenfell Testimony Week. Below are a you tube video and PDF transcript of Elizabeth Campbell addressing council after Grenfell Testimony Week. You tube video Transcript
I attended Grenfell Testimony Week in a personal capacity and to support a friend who was giving testimony. As a former resident of Grenfell (2011 – 2014) and a resident in North Kensington I live on the edges of the ripples of the grief and pain of Grenfell. These reflections are entirely personal. I wrote this to help me make sense of my experience and two dear friends wanted me to publish it, so I am.
This blog explores the systemic issues seen in the Post Office Horizon Scandal and the Grenfell Tower fire, focusing on the silencing of voices through power and knowledge, and the unfair consequences of these events. Both tragedies exemplify the dismissal of non-expert knowledge and misplaced trust, leading to devastating outcomes for ordinary individuals.
Grenfell In the words of survivors runs at the National Theatre from 13th July to the 26th August.
We talk too little about the transformative power of grief . And how a new style of leadership might help us heal.
The 21st July 2022 was the final day of evidentiary hearings at the Grenfell Inquiry. Attending that hearing changed me. I’ve struggled over the last months to articulate this and am only beginning to understand and confront the implications of what I heard.
The role of civil servants before the Grenfell Tower fire is important because it highlights deficiencies within the highest levels of the civil service. MHCLG civil servants seem to have responded to ministerial pressures by degrading their working practices until they became unrecognisable to those who worked in government 20 or 30 years ago.
Someone I spoke with today spent nearly 5 years in a Fire Service but took 15 years to get over it. She told me that the actions of her colleagues… Read more The LFB Review of Culture: A quick blog… →
Making the water visible: A methodology.
Crisis response journal article
The Bronx fire raises challenging questions about our approach to fire safety post Grenfell.
I recently published an article: Systemic Change in Complex Times in the Crisis Response Journal. For more information about the journal and how to subscribe, follow this link.
Former MP Emma Dent Coad accuses the RBKC of deliberate obfuscations that are not in the spirit of post-Grenfell engagement to which the Council committed.
Nicky Venables, CEO of New Build Database interviews me about my book, Systemic change and whether we will learn from Grenfell.
On 3 July 2009, 3 week old Michelle Udooka died with her mother, Helen, in the Lakanal House Fire. Lessons were not leaarned and on 14 June 2017, the youngest victim t Grenfell was Logan Isaac Gomes, still-born at seven months.
Watch the BBC Newsnight documentary Grenfell: The 21st Floor.
LBC’s James O’Brien speaks to Ed Daffarn the author of the blog that predicted a catastrophic event at Grenfell.
A technical analysis of what happened at the Grenfell Tower Fire.
This report looks objectively at the design of the cladding system and the way in which it was installed, whilst explaining some of the evidence heard at the Inquiry.
Evidence by main contractor #Rydon at the #Grenfell Tower Inquiry reveals the narratives used to silence the voices of residents.
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Lessons from the Great Fire of London. What are the similarities to Grenfell.
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Power and Accountability. The failure of politicians to be accountable for the psychological contract in the face of catastrophic events such as Grenfell, COVID19 and Hillsborough.
Grenfell, COVID-19 and Learning. Will we learn? Risk Guru podcast.
This blog explores the Cummings’ crisis through the lens of a failure to attend to and restore an unwritten psychological contract in the aftermath of catastrophic events.
Rather than asking ‘how can we ‘move on’ from the Cummings’ crisis?’ those in power might instead seek to understand what a country in grief needs from them, to understand what it would take to restore the psychological contract and build trust.
Link to Tim Harford article about why we fail to prepare for disasters.
COVID-19, collection of useful articles
Adaptive capacity is a cornerstone of resiliance. Those that failed to ensure this capacity whilst listing a pandemic as a top civil risk need to be held to account.
A 2013 Report by the CHPI warns that the new NHS structure would impact the ability to fight a pandemic.
Rather than viewing #Covid-19 as an interuption and wait for things to return to normal. It offers a unique #leadership opportunity to untether ourselves from the past and step into the Fourth Industrial Age.
Failures to learn and heed warnings about the impact of a global pandemic.
Personal reflection on #Grenfell and #COVID19
A timeline of the first 35 minutes of the Grenfell Tower Fire.
What lessons are there for us to learn from week 1 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry
Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 details and background.
Recent decisions about Benita Mehra, Gavin Barwell and Robert Jenrick are perplexing in the symbolic dissonance with the intent for learning and change.
This blog looks at the failures of the LFB in preparing for Grenfell and explores the narratives displacing our ability to learn from Grenfell.
Key facts surrounding the departure of the LFB Commissioner.
A conscious unwillingness to learn from Grenfell
In preparation for the publication of the Phase 1 report, I’ve attempted to pull together some key facts about the Inquiry. Please forgive any errors or omissions. I look at:… Read more The Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Key facts… →
LFB Commissioner Dany Cotton said that preparing for Grenfell would be like a space shuttle landing on the shard. This article explores why this statement is problematic.
It looks at the failures of the LFB to understand and mitigate catastrophic risk and to create a learning culture.
Transcript of Prof Torero speech – the real lesson of Grenfell. Accountability, complexity
Grenfell Never Again. Transcript of speech given at Fire Brigade Union event at the Labour Party Conference.
Grenfell Tower systemic change and learning. Compliance, Leadership and reality.
In another bizarre and ironic twist post-Grenfell, the MHCLG has issued a consultation on the proposed regulatory reform based on the Hackitt review. It calls for a stronger resident voice but fails to ensure this through the consultation process.
BBC Radio 4 Beyond Today Podcast. Gill Kernick with Matthew Price and Kate Lambe.
Grenfell Tower Interview Gill Kernick BBC R4 Today program 2 days after the Grenfell Tower Fire
Dr Stan Schofield offers ways the approach taken with Piper could be applied to Grenfell. Stan spent 16 years in HSE’s Offshore Safety division in the wake of Piper Alpha.
Summary of the expert evidence heard at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry in November 2018.
Preventing catastrophic events such as the Grenfell Tower fire will require that we deepen our understanding of the nature of risk.
Learning from the Grenfell Tower Fire, Gill Kernick
Uploading a blog Martin Stanley and I wrote in September 2017. I believe this thinking will be important for Phase 2 of the Grenfell Public Inquiry.
The first submission I made to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Arguing for including the thinking of Major Accidents in understanding what happened at Grenfell.
