The Fundão Tailings Dam Catastrophe:
How Unsustainable Practices and Sloppy
Management Led to the Disaster
Victor Meyer Jr., Diórgenes Falcão Mamédio and Milton Adrião
Abstract Dams are unique complex systems. Like nuclear and chemical plants,
they are sensitive to negligence, errors and failures. This article provides an analysis,
under the lens of sustainability sciences, complexity and emergency theories, of the
Mariana Case, one of the worst catastrophes of its kind in Brazil. This is a qualitative
case study, focusing on the collapse of the Fundão dam in Mariana, in 2015. Data
were gathered from documental analysis, official reports and articles published in the
media about the event. The analysis revealed that an unexpected small-scale seismic
shock together with unsustainable malpractices represented by multiple neglected
aspects in the technical and managerial areas, weakening layers of control, triggered
the catastrophe, with the destruction of ecosystems and communities, with damage to
fauna, flora and socioeconomic lives, affecting the balance of the system’s resilience.
Lessons derived from the disaster point to the need for a joint effort to achieve the sustainable management and development of such complex systems. Approaches based
on the inculcation of high reliability culture, sustainable development, emergency
management, managing the unexpected, mindfulness, and learning culture may play
a pivotal role in building more reliable, integrated and sustainable systems.
Keywords Sustainable development · Complex systems · Mindfulness · Sloppy
management
V. Meyer Jr. · D. F. Mamédio (B) · M. Adrião
Business School, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição,
1155–Prado Velho, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
e-mail: diorgenesfalcao@gmail.com
V. Meyer Jr.
e-mail: victormeyerjr@gmail.com
M. Adrião
e-mail: mcadriao@terra.com.br
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities and Sustainable Communities:
Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30306-8_23
385
How Unsustainable Practices and Sloppy
Management Led to the Disaster
Victor Meyer Jr., Diórgenes Falcão Mamédio and Milton Adrião
Abstract Dams are unique complex systems. Like nuclear and chemical plants,
they are sensitive to negligence, errors and failures. This article provides an analysis,
under the lens of sustainability sciences, complexity and emergency theories, of the
Mariana Case, one of the worst catastrophes of its kind in Brazil. This is a qualitative
case study, focusing on the collapse of the Fundão dam in Mariana, in 2015. Data
were gathered from documental analysis, official reports and articles published in the
media about the event. The analysis revealed that an unexpected small-scale seismic
shock together with unsustainable malpractices represented by multiple neglected
aspects in the technical and managerial areas, weakening layers of control, triggered
the catastrophe, with the destruction of ecosystems and communities, with damage to
fauna, flora and socioeconomic lives, affecting the balance of the system’s resilience.
Lessons derived from the disaster point to the need for a joint effort to achieve the sustainable management and development of such complex systems. Approaches based
on the inculcation of high reliability culture, sustainable development, emergency
management, managing the unexpected, mindfulness, and learning culture may play
a pivotal role in building more reliable, integrated and sustainable systems.
Keywords Sustainable development · Complex systems · Mindfulness · Sloppy
management
V. Meyer Jr. · D. F. Mamédio (B) · M. Adrião
Business School, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição,
1155–Prado Velho, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
e-mail: diorgenesfalcao@gmail.com
V. Meyer Jr.
e-mail: victormeyerjr@gmail.com
M. Adrião
e-mail: mcadriao@terra.com.br
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities and Sustainable Communities:
Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30306-8_23
385