There were many holes lined up in many slices of cheese for this one to happen. I won't comment on my opinion as to what was the primary contributor- as everyone else has been. I will say that rather than punishment, I think it is interesting that no one is looking at "the easiest way to make sure this doesn't happen again". Surely we should learn, change and move on.
Any takers?
I did want to take up LatviaCalling's posting
Following the AF Concorde story when it happened and post factum postings, there seemed to be a general agreement that the runway should have been cleared of any debris after each heavy took off, and especially before a Concorde took off. According to all those pages and posts, this was not done. I don't remember who said it, but the gist was that almost every heavy aircraft loses something on takeoff. Therefore the snuff patrol, but the main point is that before every Concorde takeoff the runway was to be clean. Somebody screwed up.
I work in airside operations and have reasonable knowledge of runway inspections policies and practices at about 9 airports in Europe and the US. I know of no such 'agreement' at any airport close to the size of CDG that the runway should be inspected after the take off of every heavy. Let alone this 'agreement' being rolled into any Aerodrome Safety Policies. The most prescriptive (in terms of quantitative measures) runway inspection policies I have seen are limited to "we will inspect the runway x times a day". I'm not saying that's right or wrong (although I am always looking for a better way of doing something)- in fact, every airport should do it's own risk assessment.
Just imagine what an inspection after every heavy would mean for an airport like LHR. That's an inspection every minute or two of nearly 13,000 ft of a strip of tarmac about 148 ft wide (often in the dark). As you increase the inspections you also need to account for the hazards you are introducing onto the runway- just think of all those vehicles you MIGHT have needed to find that strip of titanium! Again, I'm sure there's a better way of doing what CDG were doing on the day, but other posters have covered that.