Rediscovering what they were supposed to already know

May 31, 2010 — Richard Gayle

by TheMarque

1997 Warning on Deep Blowouts: ‘Options Are Limited’
[Via Dot Earth]

It should come as no surprise that experts in avoiding and stopping blowouts of oil and gas wells long ago saw the deep-ocean drilling frontier as particularly dangerous terrain.

[More]

As often happens in human endeavors, people get complacent and take shortcuts. The only way to prevent this is to make sure there is a cultural focus on doing it right. This often means that some people who fail to follow proper procedure need to be tried criminally.

And not just the poor guys on the platform but their bosses who pressured them.

Yep, I’m a liberal because I believe that might actually work. Well, it would actually work if we ever held anyone accountable. Lack of accountability by those in charge has been a hallmark of the last 20 years.

Richard links to an important article on how risk actually works. People naturally drift to cut corners - the O Ring for Challenger - How BP was finishing the well.

If we recognize this, then we have to make the PERSONAL stakes high for drift.

If BP gets hit with a $10 billion dollar fine as is now possible and The Senior Rig folks and Mr Hayward go to jail - we can be assured that there won't be ANY drift in the future.

Test this - your CEO goes to jail if you mess up - how tough will be the safety oversight?