Damage Control

Damage control is a term used in the Merchant Marine, maritime industry and navies for the emergency control of situations that may hazard the sinking of a ship. It is also used in other contexts as explained below.

Examples are:

  • rupture of a pipe or hull especially below the waterline and
  • damage from grounding (running aground) or hard berthing against a wharf.
  • temporary fixing of bomb or explosive damage.

The term is also used in project management and other contexts to describe the actions needed to deal with any problem that may jeopardize an endeavor. As well, it has been adopted for use in politics and media to describe a need to suppress information or employ spin doctors to represent a response to a situation.

Read more about Damage Control:  Measures Used, Notable Contemporary Examples

Famous quotes containing the words damage and/or control:

    Instead of asking—”How much damage will the work in question bring about?” why not ask—”How much good? How much joy?”
    Henry Miller (1891–1980)

    The general fact is that the most effective way of utilizing human energy is through an organized rivalry, which by specialization and social control is, at the same time, organized co-operation.
    Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)