OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush: ‘Safety Is A Waste’ – Watch

In a November 2022 podcast interview, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush made the controversial statement that “safety is just pure waste.” Rush was discussing the Titan submersible, which his company uses to take tourists to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The sub is made of carbon fiber, which Rush said is “innovative” but also “not as strong as steel.” He added that he believes there is a “limit” to safety, and that “at some point, you’re going to have to take some risks.”

“My whole life I wanted to be an astronaut,” Rush stated. “I went and got an aerospace engineering degree. I wanted to be a fighter pilot but my eyesight wasn’t good enough for that. That was when I had this epiphany that it wasn’t about going into space; it was about exploring. It was about finding new life forms.”

“I realized that the ocean is the universe,” he continued. “That is where life is, and it fit very well. It turns out that an aerospace engineering degree actually has helped me do things in the submersible world that people who don’t understand compressible fluid flow didn’t quite figure out.”

“Once you’re certain it’s not gonna collapse on everybody, everything else can fail. It doesn’t matter. Your thrusters can go; your lights can go; all these things can fail, you’re still gonna be safe,” he said. “You just have to be very careful that the life-support systems, the sub itself, the oxygen system, carbon dioxide scrubbing, all that stuff, that needs to be buttoned down.”

Rush’s comments have been met with criticism from some safety experts, who argue that his view of safety is too lax. They point out that the Titanic wreck is located in a dangerous environment, and that even the slightest mishap could have fatal consequences.

Submarine CEO: "Safety is a waste" 🧐 pic.twitter.com/YqGkrhUmHY

— Jesse Marioneaux (@jesse_marioneau) June 21, 2023