There Was 'Nobody in Charge' After the Blast

[kpete]

Source: Wall Street Journal

There Was 'Nobody in Charge'
After the Blast, Horizon Was Hobbled by a Complex Chain of Command; A 23-Year-Old Steps In to Radio a Mayday

In the minutes after a cascade of gas explosions crippled the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, confusion reigned on the drilling platform. Flames were spreading rapidly, power was out, and terrified workers were leaping into the dark, oil-coated sea. Capt. Curt Kuchta, the vessel's commander, huddled on the bridge with about 10 other managers and crew members.

Andrea Fleytas, a 23-year-old worker who helped operate the rig's sophisticated navigation machinery, suddenly noticed a glaring oversight: No one had issued a distress signal to the outside world, she recalls in an interview. Ms. Fleytas grabbed the radio and began calling over a signal monitored by the Coast Guard and other vessels.


"Mayday, Mayday. This is Deepwater Horizon. We have an uncontrollable fire."

When Capt. Kuchta realized what she had done, he reprimanded her, she says.

"I didn't give you authority to do that," he said, according to Ms. Fleytas, who says she responded: "I'm sorry."



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264721101985024.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

[Brickbat]

1. Concern about mitigating responsibility is as devastating to our way of life as the quest for

unending, unearned profits. From a billion-dollar oil disaster to the customer service rep who can't possibly give a customer any service, a lack of accountability and responsibility is wrecking so much.

[villager]

2. As a young man, I worked briefly in a bank -- in customer service. I was reprimanded

...for taking the customer's side too often! That wasn't was "customer service" was supposed to do!

The coda to this is that one of those customers wrote the bank manager, saying I was the first person she'd encountered in the position who actually seemed like he was listening to her...

[BlancheSplanchnik]

3. seems a true pink collar ghetto of lowest level workers hired to interface with the public

call them receptionists, customer service reps or information desk, they are kept at the lowest rungs of pay and information and are barred from any useful engagement.



anyway, I completely agree. Not only lack of accountability but also a culture of deceptive hype. BAd combination.

[Brickbat]

8. All the way through middle management and upper management too. And then the ones at the very top

blame the ones below them. The buck stops nowhere except in the fat cats' pockets these days.

[hedgehog]

4. So much for all the training and disater drills.....

:eyes:

[aquart]

5. "Huddled"? Kuchta is gonna need a lawyer.

They're cutting off his balls in public.

[EFerrari]

7. The very life raft he was on couldn't move away from the burning rig

BECAUSE THE LINE HADN'T BEEN CUT.

Good grief. It's a miracle those people are alive.

[aquart]

9. Good grief, indeed.

[No Elephants]

11. Why would BP care if he can inseminate or not?

:eyes:

[golddigger]

6. Thank god BP is in charge now!

:sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

10. someday she`ll realize she does`t need ....

to say she`s sorry when she was doing the right thing.

i noticed this when i was coaching my girls youth soccer teams. if i corrected them they would say they were sorry...it drove me nuts.
i just tell them they did`t need to say they were sorry just learn from their mistake. by the end of the season they stopped and they became more confident and better players.

so to andre fleytas for doing the right thing...