Inauguration of the exhibition "Could the Titanic tragedy be avoided? The importance of prevention"

With the prevention of occupational risks that we know today, could tragedies of the past have been avoided? This is the central axis of the exhibition "Could the Titanic tragedy be avoided? The importance of prevention", an exhibition organized by the Regional Institute of Safety and Health at Work of Madrid (IRSST) together with the AXA Foundation, the Granada Science Park and Fraternidad-Muprespa.

The exhibition, which can be visited until December 16 at the IRSST headquarters on 7 Ventura Rodríguez Street in Madrid, was inaugurated this Wednesday morning in an event that was attended by Alfredo Timermans, Deputy Minister of Employment of the Community of Madrid; Silvia Marina Parra, general director of Labor and Manager of the IRSST; Rosa Menchén, head of the IRSST Knowledge and Preventive Culture Area; Josep Alfonso Caro, general director of the AXA Foundation; Natalia Fdez. and Antonio José Millán, curator of the exhibition and director of the AXA Chair of Prevention.

The deputy minister thanked the AXA Foundation, the Granada Science Park and Fraternidad-Muprespa:

“the organization of informative exhibitions, like this one, that reinforce the preventive culture throughout society.”

The exhibition analyzes the technical and human circumstances that caused that catastrophe, asking the visitor the question of what role the prevention of occupational risks could have played in the shipwreck. It also pays tribute to the Prevention of Occupational Risks Law, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2020, and which stipulates that workers must have equipment appropriate to their position in order to perform their duties. A circumstance that did not occur that fateful night, in the case, for example, of the lookout, who did not have binoculars that would have allowed him to see the iceberg that drilled into the ship during the turning maneuver.

In the room you can see objects and explanatory panels, with information available through QR codes. The visitor is also exposed to an interactive simulation with the different alternative maneuvers that the ship could have carried out that night to avoid the collision and the consequences of each of them.

Last June, in Fratertalk, the space for dialogue on prevention of Fraternidad-Muprespa, we were able to learn about many of the errors that were at the origin of this incident from the hand of Antonio José Millán, who assured that "if the exhibition serves to disseminate the culture of prevention and to make you reflect, has fulfilled its mission”, something that has been reiterated in today's event.