BP Warned of Problems Before Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Government investigators, lawsuits and a law firm’s internal investigation have revealed a history of problems with maintenance and noncompliance with regulatory requirements at BP facilities at multiple United States locations. Allegations of safety issues include lack of maintenance, falsifying records of compliance with regulatory standards and pressure on workers not to report problems. A lengthy Pro Publica article report published by the Washington Post details the allegations, based in part on internal company documents from 2001, 2004 and 2007 that were provided by an unidentified source.
Reports are made of instances in which management flouted safety by neglecting aging equipment, pressuring or harassing employees not to report problems, and cutting short or delaying inspections in order to reduce production costs. A 2004 investigation found a pattern of intimidating workers who raised safety or environmental concerns. It said manager’s policy to save maintenance costs was “run to failure,” under which aging equipment was used as long as possible. Accidents are blamed on such policies, including the 200,000-gallon Prudhoe Bay pipeline spill in 2006, the largest ever spill on Alaska’s North Slope.

BP facilities in California and Texas have had similar safety problems. In 2002, California officials discovered that BP had falsified inspections of fuel tanks at a Los Angeles-area refinery and that more than 80 percent of the facilities didn’t meet safety requirements for maintaining storage tanks. Inspectors were forced to get a warrant before BP allowed them to check the tanks. BP eventually settled a civil lawsuit brought by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for more than $100 million.

In 2005, an emergency warning system failed before a Texas City refinery exploded in a ball of fire. Independent experts found that “significant process safety issues exist at all five U.S. refineries, not just Texas City.” It said “instances of a lack of operating discipline, toleration of serious deviations from safe operating practices, and apparent complacency toward serious process safety risk existed at each refinery.”
http://weprovidethecash.com/?id=mrcmlc

Best regards
Martin Crawford