What the Nimrod Disaster Can Teach Us About Improving Building Safety Culture

Mar 17

4 min read

Raising a teenager is an adventure, isn’t it? One moment, they amaze you with their independence and unfiltered humour; the next, you’re locked in a high-stakes negotiation over screen time. I don’t know about you, but I often feel like I’m making it up as I go along.

However, there’s a philosophy I learned in the Army that I try to apply to my parenting and that is to never take the easy option. My boss used to say that the easy option is almost never the right option, and it's a mantra I find useful beyond parenting challenges as well.

I believe our kids are a gift we give to the future, a future we might never see and so I consider myself accountable for the people they become. Of course when I’m exhausted and my 14-year-old is asking for “just 30 more minutes” on her phone, all those good intentions are chucked out the window and you will find her on the sofa eating chocolate, scrolling through reels.

So perhaps the analogy isn't perfect because we get many second chances with children (and I sincerely hope that one false step isn't going to mess them up forever) but when it comes to making choices about safety in our work life, we might only have one opportunity to do it right.

The Tragedy That Changed Military Aviation

In my early career in Defence Aviation, I always felt that safety was delivered by the end-user rather than being a systemic commitment from the leadership. It took a tragic accident for us to sit up and pay attention to safety culture and it is one the built environment needs to learn from.

In 2006, a British military aircraft, Nimrod XV230, suffered a catastrophic fire mid-flight. A fuel leak ignited on a hot air pipe and there was no way to suppress the flames.

All fourteen crew members lost their lives.

And here’s the thing: it was a known problem. The design flaw had existed for decades and the risk had been highlighted before. It was an entirely preventable accident, yet sadly an inevitable accident.

The inquiry that followed, led by Charles Haddon-Cave, was damning. It exposed a deeply flawed safety culture. The accident was the result of not one single catastrophic mistake, rather a gradual erosion over time of what was considered acceptable.

The report described a culture of complacency, where safety had become a box-ticking exercise rather than a real commitment. Cost-cutting was prioritised over risk management and warnings were ignored because, after all, nothing had gone wrong yet.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Because I see it in construction.

Culture: "Just the Way We Do Things Around Here"

Disasters don’t happen because people don’t know what’s right. They happen because they choose what’s easy.

Culture exists on a scale. At one end, you’ve got the pathological mindset; “Who cares? Just get the job done.” Then you move through reactive, where people only take safety seriously after something goes wrong.

Next is compliance-based, where safety is about following rules because you have to, not necessarily because you believe in them.

Beyond that, in a proactive culture, risks are identified and fixed before they cause harm.

And finally, at the very top, is the generative, high trust culture where safety isn’t a policy, it’s instinctive. It’s just how things are done.

In any organisation, there will always be people at every level of this scale. The real danger comes when the people at the bottom are the ones in charge.

We are the sum of the people around us and our culture is simply “the way we do things around here”. So if the way we do things is to:

Cut corners,
Ignore near misses,
Prioritise cost over quality,

then that is our culture.

And the consequence? It’s called Grenfell. It’s called Nimrod. It’s called the Space Shuttle Challenger.

The accident is the lagging indicator. The leading indicator is the culture that decided it was okay.

From Complacency to High-Trust Culture

After Nimrod, military aviation didn’t just tweak a few policies, it overhauled its entire safety culture.

It introduced the concept of a Just Culture, a system where mistakes can be reported without fear of blame, allowing open conversations and real learning.

It reinforced leadership accountability, strengthened risk management and embedded a culture where safety wasn’t just a regulation it was the way things were done.

The shift from compliance-based to proactive and generative safety is exactly what the built environment needs.

Bridging the Gap in the Built Environment

So where is the construction industry today? I’d say somewhere between compliance-based and reactive. The regulations are there, but is safety thinking embedded in everyday behaviours?

If we want are intent on improving building safety culture, we need three things:

1. Leadership & Accountability – Safety Starts at the Top

Safety isn’t a box to tick, it’s a boardroom responsibility. If leaders don’t take it seriously, no one else will.

2. Competence & Training – Knowledge Empowers Action

We need skilled people who understand risk, know how to take proactive action and are willing to speak up. When safety risk management is devolved it is unlikely to be a part of everyday business.

3. Systems & Processes – Making Safety Easy to Do & Hard to Ignore

We have to make it easy to do and hard not to do. That's why Cascade Risk's digital safety case application is designed to bring risk management to the forefront of business operations.

Final Thought: Choosing What’s Right Over What’s Easy

Following Nimrod, the Defence sector transformed its approach to safety. It didn’t wait for another disaster.

Grenfell was a tragedy that should never have happened and the real question now is, how many more Grenfells are still out there?

The decisions we make today will shape the safety of our buildings for generations. Given the choice between what’s easy and what’s right, we have to build a culture where the right choice isn’t even a question.

Because culture is just the way we do things around here.

If you would like support in improving your building safety culture or to learn more about our digital safety case solution, please reach out at info@cascade-risk.com