Learning How to Learn from Disasters through a Comparative Dichotomy Analysis: Grenfell Tower and Hurricane Katrina Case Studies

Maria Iglesias-Mendoza, Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo, Sara Hadleigh-Dunn and Ashraf Labib
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Maria Iglesias-Mendoza: Portsmouth Business School, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2UP, UK
Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE), University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Sara Hadleigh-Dunn: Portsmouth Business School, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2UP, UK
Ashraf Labib: Portsmouth Business School, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2UP, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: We describe two well-established, practice-based Master’s programmes as examples of existing competence development opportunities for practitioners and how such links between theory and practice can be developed and taught within the Higher Education (HE) context. We hypothesise that learning from major failures is essential in linking theory with practice in both engineering and management education. We investigate how to train emergency response teams on coping with, and learning from, rare events; a major challenge to other practitioners in the fields of safety and risk management. Comparison is undertaken between two disasters—Hurricane Katrina in the USA and the relatively recent Grenfell Tower in the UK—using a balanced dual approach of paradoxes, a dichotomy. In this paper, we demonstrate the enhancement of both engineering and management education. This was achieved through using the two case studies to emphasize the relevance of incorporating advanced mental modelling approaches for root cause analysis in training and by comparing the two cases with respect to the black swan and black elephant concepts. It is recommended that future training has a balanced approach that encompasses the outlined features of dichotomies.

Keywords: learning from disasters; Grenfell tower; Hurricane Katrina; root cause analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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