By now, we all know the enormous safety gaffes BP committed that lead to the Deep Water Horizon disaster. The effects, although seen daily on the news have not even begun to materialize.
The environment is irrevocably damaged.
America's great seafood industry has been destroyed.
The lives and livelihood of many Americans no longer exists.
All of this could have been prevented, had regulating bodies done a simple audit of BP.
A few days ago, I read a blog posting that highlighted not only BP's errors in creating this horrendous disaster, but also a the disturbing track record that went seemingly unpunished.
BP's standard operating procedure seemingly put profitability ahead of safety regularly. In fact, even publicly available fiscal reports boast of the company’s cost savings, due to less time dedicated to "planned planned mechanical, process and regulatory maintenance downtime."
Some interesting notes:
BP was cited by OSHA for almost 800 "egregious, willful" safety violations between the period of 2007 and early 2010 – before the Gulf spill had even occurred. During the same time frame, the company with the next most citations had a miniscule eight. ExxonMobil, the industry’s safety leader, had only one.
BP facilities have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" safety violations handed out by OSHA, leading OSHA to declare that BP has a "systemic safety problem." (YES 97 PERCENT)
Large-scale, high profile disasters in recent years such as Prudhoe Bay and the Texas City refinery explosion have firmly established BP as far and away the owner of the industry’s worst safety record as they have consistently failed to employ the standards that the rest of the industry adheres to
Was BP a ticking time-bomb? Obviously.. Read here...BP's SAFETY RECORD Regardless of your opinion on off-shore drilling, why didn't anyone make BP at least operate as safely as the other companies drilling in the gulf?
I have some direct experience in negotiating development deals, and contracts... one of the first things that all potential vendors are required to submit is their safety records. Under normal circumstances companies w/ a record below 95% are automatically banned from most projects until their records improve.
Why hasn't the blame been fully placed where it should: BP and their ability to manipulate a system and operate with a record so far beyond the industry norms that it is even mind-boggling.
I for one want answers...