The maker of the missing Titanic submersible, OceanGate, was the target of complaints in 2018 made by a former employee over the safety of the vessel's hull.
According to court documents reviewed by CBS MoneyWatch, OceanGate fired employee David Lochridge in 2018 after he expressed concern about the submersible's safety. The company sued him that same year, claiming Lochridge had breached his employment contract by disclosing confidential information with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration when he filed a whistleblower complaint with the agency.
In a response to OceanGate's lawsuit, Lochridge alleged in a 2018 court filing that he had been wrongfully terminated and that his actions were aimed at ensuring the safety of passengers on the submersible, called the Titan. The Titan is now the focus of a massive search in the North Atlantic after it went missing during a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic with five passengers on board.
In his complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Lochridge alleged he had raised concerns about the safety of the Titan with OceanGate and advised the company to conduct more testing of the the vessel's hull. Lochridge said he had disagreed with his employer about the best way to test the safety of the sub and that he objected to OceanGate's decision to perform dives without "non-destructive testing to prove its integrity."
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