Analysis: Decision makers were trapped by cruelest of circumstances

STEPHEN Torrie’s report exposes some very human fallibility in decision making. In this case, they ended up having tragic consequences.

He has some sympathy for the commanders who delayed getting Mrs Hume out and he notes that they had to take into account Strathclyde Fire and Rescue’s operational guidelines.

“It is entirely possible to imagine a scenario where one or more of the rescuers was trapped or injured and incident commanders being held to account for their failure to implement the same policy they have been criticised for adhering to,” he writes.

But Mr Torrie suggests that the commanders who made the crucial decision to delay rescuing Mrs Hume may have fallen foul of “the psychology of decision making” where, once having made a difficult choice, people find it “increasingly difficult to move away from a plan” even when – as in the case here – it was not working.

And, he notes, they made their decision without all the right information at their fingertips, and without properly considering the option of letting the crews present get on with their job.

Certainly, the considerations which commanders had to take into account were “legitimate”, says Mr Torrie. But, in what he says is the key point, they also failed to take into account that the police team they were waiting for faced “exactly the same risk” that the shaft might collapse, as did the firefighters keen to get on with the job. Nor did the fire commanders include the ambulance crews present in the discussions. “Steps which might have been taken to share and reassess the risks … were not taken,” he concludes.