Thursday, January 13, 2011

Oil spill was due to "systemic failures in safety"... Is anyone really surprised by this finding?

Government investigators have determined that responsibility for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill rests squarely on the shoulders of BP, Halliburton and Transocean, in what they say is a sign of systemic failures in the safety culture of the oil drilling industry. Did we really need a study to figure this out? Read about it here.

2 comments:

akoonce said...

The study found that the blame lay squarely on the shoulders of these private businesses, but isn't there a catastrophic failure of oversight as well?

The article goes on to say there must be sweeping regulatory reform, so shouldn't the theme of the study be that both private business and regulators are responsible for this accident?

"Government investigators have determined that responsibility for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill rests squarely on the shoulders of BP, Halliburton and Transocean, in what they say is a sign of systemic failures in the safety culture of the oil drilling industry."

The regulators are a part of the safety system that failed, an integral part of the oil drilling industry that helped foster the bad culture that existed. Together they failed and together they must reform.

Professor Alberto Bernabe said...

Good point. There needs to be better regulation and oversight.