4 ms·

Lab safety wasn't thing and the people in the lab resisted any attempt to create it. It's no surprise people died.

danbr 3y ago
In this case, Louis Slotin was the safety mechanism. Different times… I’m currently reading Command and Control which dives into nuclear safety and more interestingly, accidents. I recommend it: https://books.google.com/books/about/Command_and_Control.html?id=lJ6JDQAAQBAJ https://books.google.com/books/about/Command_and_Control.htm...
HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago
Yes - multiple near-critical screw-ups at the Los Alamos lab. People seemed surprisingly casual in handling of something that could (and did) kill them.
- dcminter 3y ago
  Bear in mind that the incident was only a little more than a decade after this photo was taken: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper "Workplace safety" is a comparatively modern invention.
  - toyg 3y ago
    That picture was a publicity stunt. Workplace safety back then was bad (as reported by the number of deaths), but not that bad.
    - dcminter 3y ago
      Point taken, but it's still illustrative - could you do that photo now? Without safety harnesses and so forth? In the mid 30s you could.
justrealist 3y ago
> Some 60 million people died in World War II. On average, 27,000 people perished on each day between the invasion of Poland (September 1, 1939) and the formal surrender of Japan (September 2, 1945) If you believed in earnest (as they did) that the atomic bombs stood a very good chance of shortening WWII, there was absolutely no case for safety regulations short of preventing accidents that wiped out large numbers of lab personnel. Even a single day's delay would kill over a thousand times as many people as lives you'd save.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Yeah. Slotkin's accident was of course boneheaded (and nuclear nations should bear responsibility for their actions) but I'm amazed and dismayed at how articles like this characterize the lack of safety culture as mere carelessness or hubris. The Americans knew that the Nazis were working on atomic weapons and believed (entirely reasonably, but incorrectly) that the Nazis were likely ahead of them. What was the safety risk of a nuclear-armed Adolf Hitler? We might as well criticize the lack of "safety culture" on D-Day or at the Battle of Stalingrad. These were people doing desperate, daring things in dangerous times at an intentionally breakneck pace. Slotkin's accident occurred in 1946 after the war ended, so Germany was not a looming threat at that instant. But we had similar concerns about the USSR's nuclear weapons program at that time.

In this case, Louis Slotin was the safety mechanism. Different times… I’m currently reading Command and Control which dives into nuclear safety and more interestingly, accidents. I recommend it: https://books.google.com/books/about/Command_and_Control.html?id=lJ6JDQAAQBAJ https://books.google.com/books/about/Command_and_Control.htm...

HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago

Yes - multiple near-critical screw-ups at the Los Alamos lab. People seemed surprisingly casual in handling of something that could (and did) kill them.

dcminter 3y ago
Bear in mind that the incident was only a little more than a decade after this photo was taken: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper "Workplace safety" is a comparatively modern invention.
- toyg 3y ago
  That picture was a publicity stunt. Workplace safety back then was bad (as reported by the number of deaths), but not that bad.
  - dcminter 3y ago
    Point taken, but it's still illustrative - could you do that photo now? Without safety harnesses and so forth? In the mid 30s you could.

justrealist 3y ago

> Some 60 million people died in World War II. On average, 27,000 people perished on each day between the invasion of Poland (September 1, 1939) and the formal surrender of Japan (September 2, 1945) If you believed in earnest (as they did) that the atomic bombs stood a very good chance of shortening WWII, there was absolutely no case for safety regulations short of preventing accidents that wiped out large numbers of lab personnel. Even a single day's delay would kill over a thousand times as many people as lives you'd save.

JohnBooty 3y ago
Yeah. Slotkin's accident was of course boneheaded (and nuclear nations should bear responsibility for their actions) but I'm amazed and dismayed at how articles like this characterize the lack of safety culture as mere carelessness or hubris. The Americans knew that the Nazis were working on atomic weapons and believed (entirely reasonably, but incorrectly) that the Nazis were likely ahead of them. What was the safety risk of a nuclear-armed Adolf Hitler? We might as well criticize the lack of "safety culture" on D-Day or at the Battle of Stalingrad. These were people doing desperate, daring things in dangerous times at an intentionally breakneck pace. Slotkin's accident occurred in 1946 after the war ended, so Germany was not a looming threat at that instant. But we had similar concerns about the USSR's nuclear weapons program at that time.