This book discusses the risks of information concealment in the context
of major natural or industrial disasters - offering detailed
descriptions and analyses of some 25 historical cases (Three Mile Island
nuclear accident, Bhopal disaster, Challenger Space Shuttle explosion,
Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Deepwater Horizon oil spill,
Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster, Enron's bankruptcy, Subprime
mortgage crisis, Worldwide Spanish flu and SARS outbreaks, etc.) and
applying these insights to selected on-going cases where such
information concealment is suspected. Some successful examples of
preventive anti-concealment practice are also presented.
In the book, the term 'concealment' is used to represent the two
distinct behaviors uncovered in the investigations: (i) facts and
information about an organization and its functioning being hidden from
those that need them - here the concealment can be due to various
factors, such as complexity and miscommunication, to name but two - and
(ii) the conscious and deliberate action of keeping important
information secret or misrepresenting it. This second meaning makes up a
surprisingly important part of the evidence presented.
Accordingly, emphasis has been put on this second aspect and the
approach is more pragmatic than academic, remaining focused on
evidence-based practical and useful factors. It raises awareness and
provides valuable lessons for decision- makers, risk specialists and
responsible citizens alike. This work is also intended as a fact-based
reference work for future academic and scholarly investigations on the
roots of the problem, in particular regarding any psychological or
sociological modeling of human fallibility.
