Bp Oil Spill

Introduction

BP is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. In the late 1990’s, the company shot to the forefront of the industry as they pushed the boundaries of offshore drilling and pressed exploration far into the deep ocean waters. Plagued by constant leadership turnover, the company suffered from numerous safety violations and fatal incidents. The culmination of many bad decisions ended in a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that resulted in serious injuries and the death of 11 people. Unknowingly, the company had developed an internal culture of risk versus reward that proved to have dire consequences.

Analysis

History and Culture

BP’s history and culture shaped decision making on the Deepwater Horizon due to the culture of complacency and cost driven decision making that BP had adopted over the years. Even with the changes in leadership, this seemed to remain constant. Corporate bonuses and promotions, the culture and pressure to perform, executives visiting on the day of the accident all encouraged individuals to take excessive risks. No one wanted to be the person to alert management that there was an impending catastrophe about to take place.

Backup Systems

BP had several systems in place to mitigate the risk of a blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig. The emergency disconnect system that was in place should have triggered the blowout preventer’s shears to cut the drill pipe and seal the well but this system failed. Also, the deadman system (automatic mode function) failed as well. In addition to those measures, there was an alarm system to alert workers to potential catastrophe, but as proven in this case the alarms must be a valid indicator of a valid problem. The alarms had been put on “inhibited mode” due to constant false notifications. Investigators later concluded that there should be more sophisticated alarms on the equipment.

BP or Industry Failure

This oil spill was both an industry wide failure...