BP oil spill report blames bad management
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The U.S. National Oil Spill Commission Thursday released one chapter of a report containing key findings of its investigation into the BP oil spill, blaming bad management as the main cause of the disaster.
"The well blew out because a number of separate risk factors, oversights, and outright mistakes combined to overwhelm the safeguards meant to prevent just such an event from happening," the report stated.
"But most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can be traced back to a single overarching failure — a failure of management," the report said, adding that "Better management by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean would almost certainly have prevented the blowout by improving the ability of individuals involved to identify the risks they faced, and to properly evaluate, communicate, and address them."
"A key question posed from the outset by this tragedy is, do we have a single company, BP, that blundered with fatal consequences, or a more pervasive problem of a complacent industry?" said Commission Co-Chair William K. Reilly, "Given the documented failings of both Transocean and Halliburton, both of which serve the off shore industry in virtually every ocean, I reluctantly conclude we have a system-wide problem."
"The Commission's findings only compound our sense of tragedy because we know now that the blowout of the Macondo well was avoidable." Commission Co-Chair Bob Graham said, "This disaster likely would not have happened had the companies involved been guided by an unrelenting commitment to safety first."
"And it likely would not have happened if the responsible governmental regulators had the capacity and will to demand world class safety standards," Graham added.
