Past Programs
Disasters and Accidents - 2008
Major accident safety lessons
30/04/2008
Major rail, road and air disasters can cost hundreds of lives and lead to long term physical and psychological damage for survivors and their families. You might recall waking up to news of the Granville rail disaster, or the Beaconsfield mine collapse for example. And while at the time these accidents make headlines and spark major inquiries - what safety lessons do we learn and do we heed them? Does the pressure for companies to balance the books and improve profit margins force people to cut corners?
Watching the weather
25/02/2008
When the Bureau of Meteorology was established 100 years ago, its role was to help in the process of building the nation. According to the newly federated government, the country needed more European immigrants and investment as well as expansion beyond the coastal strip. The Bureau, it was hoped, would be part of that, providing information about rainfall patterns, potential water storages and regions that could support new pasture.
Later, and particularly after the second world war, the bureau's role changed. Air travel, mining exploration and even Britain's atomic testing, demanded greater and more accurate weather science. And now climate change has thrown up new expectations. But despite that, historian David Day says the bureau has had to cope on shoestring budgets for years and more recently, enforced efficiency dividends. David Day has just published The Weather Watchers: 100 Years of the Bureau of Meteorology.
