This is really outrageous. "an alarm system designed to alert the crew and prevent combustible gases from reaching potential sources of ignition had been deliberately disabled, the former chief electronics technician on the rig testified Friday. "
The Deepwater Horizon had bypassed key alarm and shutdown systems that could have warned the crew on the Deepwater Horizon of impending disaster or may have even guarded against themitigated some of the disaster that struck April 20. The staggering revelation came from the testimony Friday of Mike Williams, the chief electronics technician on the Transocean rig.
http://www.nola.com/...
News Alert: Technician: Warning system on BP oil rig had been disabled
11:03 AM EDT Friday, July 23, 2010
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KENNER, LA. -- Long before an eruption of gas turned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig into a fireball, an alarm system designed to alert the crew and prevent combustible gases from reaching potential sources of ignition had been deliberately disabled, the former chief electronics technician on the rig testified Friday.
Michael Williams said he understood that the rig had been operating with the system in "inhibited" mode for a year to prevent false alarms from disturbing the crew.
Williams said the explanation he got was that the leadership of the rig did not want crew members needlessly awakened in the middle of the night.
For more information, visit washingtonpost.com:
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com...
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Michael Williams said he understood that the rig had been operating with the system in "inhibited" mode for a year to prevent false alarms from disturbing the crew.
Williams said the explanation he got was that the leadership of the rig did not want crew members needlessly awakened in the middle of the night.
The ex-Marine, who survived the April 20 conflagration by jumping from the burning rig, was addressing a federal panel probing the disaster.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Now here is the part that just astounds me....why were/are these oil companies allowed to get away with this? Who's responsible for allowing this negligence?
If the safety system was disabled, it would not have been a unique event. Records of federal enforcement actions reviewed by The Washington Post show that, in case after case, rig operators paid fines for allegedly bypassing safety systems that could impede routine operations.
CSPAN live feed of the testimony:
http://www.cspan.org/...