Rig worker was screamed at for pushing the distress button, had to wait for management approval (AP)

[charlesg]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifzgq3rVD5beDXKUQtrCfrrPfuUwD9FUPMN00

5/26/2010
Workers describe failures on oil rig
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, MIKE BAKER and JEFF DONN

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig burned around him, Chris Pleasant hesitated, waiting for approval from his superiors before activating the emergency disconnect system that was supposed to slam the oil well shut at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The delay may have cost critical seconds. When Pleasant and his co-workers at rig owner Transocean finally got the go-ahead to throw the so-called deadman's switch, they realized there was no hydraulic power to operate the machinery...

At least two explosions turned the rig into an inferno. Crew members were hurled through walls, doors flew through the air and the living quarters blew apart. Workers stumbled across a bloody, dark deck, trying to pull debris off the injured. Rig leaders struggled to comprehend the magnitude of what was happening. An emergency generator wouldn't start. Steve Bertone, the chief engineer for Transocean, wrote in his witness statement that he ran up the bridge and heard the captain screaming at a worker for pressing the distress button. Bertone turned to Pleasant, who was manning the emergency disconnect system, and asked whether it had been engaged. Pleasant told Bertone that he needed approval first, according to Bertone's sworn statement. Another manager tried to give the go-ahead, but someone else said the order needed to come from the rig's offshore installation manager. Ultimately who gave the order is a matter of dispute. Donald Vidrine, well site leader for BP, said he did it. But Bertone said it was Jimmy Harrell of Transocean.

By the time the workers obtained the approval and got started, Pleasant said he "got all the electronic signals but no flow on meters," meaning hydraulic fluid wasn't flowing to close the valves on the blowout preventer. Darryl Bourgoyne, a petroleum engineer at Louisiana State University, said a valve could have been broken or hydraulic fluid could have leaked earlier... Gene Beck, a petroleum engineer at Texas A&M at College Station, said companies typically have criteria that allow any worker to engage the system if problems get bad enough. "It's hard for me to imagine the situation where there's been a fire and an explosion and someone can't make that decision to hit the disconnect on their own," he said. Workers elsewhere on the rig were having problems of their own. Some were "told the situation was under control," even though it was "absolutely not," said Yancy Keplinger, a senior crew member.

Benjamin LaCroix, a tank cleaner, said walls and ceilings were caving in and workers were running for their lives, and yet rig officials wanted to do a roll call. A couple of workers described a debate about whether they should be in lifeboats. Once workers finally started getting into the boats, it took several minutes to persuade officials to start lowering them. Once they did, the operator didn't know how to detach a boat from the rig. "It was only by the GRACE OF GOD that we didn't burn to death," LaCroix told investigators.

[Statistical]

1. Recced. Needs to be adetailed minute by minute investigation on exactly what happened.

This wasn't a single failure or even a dozen failures. This was years of systemic nonstop failures form the top down for years all the way from the planning & regulatory process up till the aftermath of the explosion.

BP was just "lucky" to be the first. Unless we get some real reforms it will happen again.

[NBachers]

19. Agreed. This should be dissected as minutely as the Titanic disaster

[Mark D.]

55. It Is Unbelievable

The shut off they were so afraid to push could have been pushed 'too early'. Worst case? They have to turn it off and open the pipe again if they 'overreacted'. That's what gets me! OMG - if we close it when we don't have to - 'God almighty' BP will potentially lose a few minutes of oil flow. Why in the world such a valve doesn't automatically kick on when the first shock hit. Why anyone would have waited, and not said 'f*cking fire me then!' in the face of a 'captain' yelling at them for shutting it off too soon. All for what? Oil, money, keeping reverence to those elite that have destroyed this nation and the world in too many ways to count.

From exporting jobs to the financial crisis they manufactured intentionally, to this mess. Millions of gallons of oil in the gulf for possibly decades, and the 'worry over authorization' may have cost them the ability to stop it right after it started, for a lack of power once they finally got 'authorization' to hit that. Good God, there is a major explosion, bodies are flying through the air, and folks are scared to hit the 'off' button. What kind of control do those elite bastards have? I hope Mike Papantonio hits them where it hurts in his class-action lawsuit. I'm not one of those 'litigation-happy' folks. But there has never been a better time, or a better target.

[snagglepuss]

2. Un-effing-believable. May the idiots responsible for this disaster rot in hell.

[valerief]

44. Whoever allowed the drilling without a contingency plan is the one most responsible.

That's CONGRESS!!!!!!!

[lark]

60. Hell is too metaphorical

I want them locked up for life in jail, and they can call it hell. I want BP banned from any oil drilling whatsoever in the US or it's coastal or nearby waters. I want all off-shore oil drilling stopped yesterday. I want every rig inspected and if they don't have an acoustic BOP in addition to the regular one - closed until the new equipment is in place and passed at least 3 tests! I want no drilling whatsoever until each place proves that it has sufficient ships, personnel and boom on hand. I want no new drilling EVER. It's pure ratshit that this reduces the cost of oil. The oil from these rigs goes straight overseas, it does nothing to reduce our foreign imports. I want every rig with environmental waivers shut down permanently until they reapply and go thru the full bore environment review process. I want every person hired during any Repug admin. in the MMS fired - scientists and engineers only allowed.

[TroglodyteScholar]

3. And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. n/t

[grasswire]

4. FUBAR

I believe that acronym is appropriate.

[dorkulon]

13. More like SNAFU

[Enthusiast]

26. Good thing government wasn't in charge. nt

[happyslug]

41. Yes, the Government would have had to follow standard training rules

Including once a month evacuation plans (including at least once a year getting everyone in the boats and launching them so that people KNOW what they had to do to get off). Those fire drills just take up to much time. Think back to school, how much education you missed do to participating in fire drills. Such Government MANDATES just lose productive time. It is NOT the business of business to save lives, that is the why we have government.

[Enthusiast]

50. Yeah,

I was repeating the stupid speak. I've seldom seen such a complete cluster fuck as BP's mess. I'm just a tad nervous about the building of new nuclear powerplants as a result. Remember, several years ago government inspectors were beat up for citing violations when a Kansas nuclear powerplant was built. Doesn't sound like a good way to approach safety regulations to me.

[icymist]

52. Nah. It's easier and profitable just to buy peasants insurance on throw-away people.

We can't have government regulations get in the way of business. Think of the poor share holders! What about the poor share holders?

:sarcasm:

[Overseas]

5. K&R to highlight the criminal behavior of the multinational corporations concerned. //nt

[Catherina]

6. The BP Chain of Command needs to do serious jail time n/t

[Ex Lurker]

22. The BP company man on the rig took the 5th at the Coast Guard hearing today

he's likely looking at a stretch in the gray bar hilton. His higher ups will try to make him the scapegoat. He'd better be trying to cut a deal with the feds to roll over on them, because they're surely making plans to hang him out to dry as we speak.

[w4rma]

7. And I'd bet every cent of money that I own that if someone did press that button without going

through the lengthy, time-consuming "chain-of-command" set up by BP bean-counters then that hero would have been fired on the spot.

[truedelphi]

24. Ya gotta figure that the culture of this company was such that anyone who

Normally thinks on their own was probably fired within two or three weeks of getting the job.

This Chris Pleasant - he is waiting for the signal until finally there are explosions, but he is cowed enough to still wait? And wait some more?

[Angry Dragon]

8. Too many chiefs

and no one in charge

[bertman]

9. Anybody want to bet on whether anyone gets prosecuted for this debacle? Rec.

[sakabatou]

10. So many things wrong with the whole matter.

[micraphone]

11. This is corporate bullying

The whole rig exploding in flames around him - and he STILL hesitates to hit the kill switch...

Now that's SOME kind of bully...

[GreenStormCloud]

12. That is amazing. I used to work offshore oil.

We had a lifeboat once a week. Everybody knew how to operate them. For those not familar here is a picture of a typical lifeboat. Once inside the door is closed and sealed until rescue arrives. If the boat gets flipped over by the ocean it will right itself.




With my company, ODECO, authority to activate the BOP rested with the senior person on duty on the rig. That means the senior person who is awake. But he pays attention to others who are in positions to monitor the well, such as the driller or the shaker. If one of them yelled into the speaker system for the well to be shut in, it was shut down first, figure out what happened next.

Sometimes things still go wrong. ODECO had a massive well blowout and fire on the Ocean King (5 killed) and later lost the Ocean Ranger with all hands in a storm.

[CoffeeCat]

14. Are we really supposed to believe that...

...billionaires, who have risen to positions of power and hob-knob with
our politicians at cocktail parties--are really this stupid?

When I read things like this, it makes me go all tin foily. How
could so many things go so wrong, and how could so many people be
so stupid and make error after error after error.

Why would the guy who wanted to throw the switch and shut the oil pipe
be told "NO!" and that everything was under control--when it wasn't?
Do people who are on fire really care that much if protocol is followed
when you're talking about saving lives?

We're not talking about morons out on an oil rig. This is a very
sophisticated corporate juggernaut that has billions in cash in
the bank.

If these people were really as moronic and completely incapable--how in the
world did they build one of the world's most powerful and lucrative companies--and
ascend as a major player in DC power circles? You could take any random
taco maker at Taco Bell--and they would not have made these mistakes.

Something is just not right. It doesn't add up.

[merh]

17. Look, I think it is assine to wait for approval

If shit is blowing up around me, I'm hitting the kill switch.

If I get fired so the fuck what, I might stop a 300 foot flame and explosion that wrecks the rig and incinerates folks.

I'm amazed that someone was waiting around to be told its okay to try to prevent a disaster.

[Capitalocracy]

57. And having been fired, you'd never get a job again.

And the only ones who may give a crap that you prevented a potential disaster would be Democracy Now.

[w4rma]

20. Most billionares really aren't that smart. They are just connected. (nt)

[Enthusiast]

27. They rent some lobbyists,

pay off some legislators and lackeys, before long they are rolling in high clover. Quick path to wealth and success. It has never been easier.

[fasttense]

29. I understand what you are thinking but....

Billionaires, millionaires and uber wealthy people are some of the most stupid, ignorant and thoughtless people I have ever had the misfortune of knowing.

Yes, a lot of them are that stupid, but mostly it's about corruption. Their souls ar black mases of indifference to their fellow man. They don't care how many people die. If they can make a profit off it, then it's ok by them. They don't see people as people. They think anyone, who is not as rich as they are, is stupid, useless and expendable. People are here only to make them rich, happy, clean and satisfied, nothing more.

Even when you point out to them that they can make about the same profit, get the same results without death or destruction, they don't care. It's just not an issue they consider in their calculations at all.

Now how do these people build successful corporations is a bit of a misnomer. They don't build anything themselves. These CEOs are like raiders, they ruthlessly plunder a corporation that has already been built by other people. Then they try to get out with their loot before people catch on to what they have done.

They build nothing, they merely merge and consolidate, plunder and sell off, fire and lay-off, out source and contract out. They get these jobs because Buffy knows Tad, and Tad tells Leslie, and Williams got a good blow job from his brother's uncle once. Anyway you know what I mean. It's who you know, not how good of a CEO you are. It's being born into wealth, going to the right schools and building on what was handed to you as a child.

It's easy for those born into the right families or those lucky enough to get into their clubs. It's not really work because they have no struggles, no real tough choices like should I work to pay off my rent or study to pass my exam. They merely had to study and had everything handed to them due to wealth or luck.

This culture has taken over DC too.

[Bette Noir]

43. Example: GW.

That man couldn't tie his own shoes, and he became President.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

62. Nice summation.

It is discouraging as all hell that we continue to allow the abuse.

[Liberal In Texas]

32. One word: TITANIC.

The "corporate juggernaut" that was the White Star Line cut corners on safety in the design and operation of the infamous liner that resulted in more than 1500 deaths. When you study the story of Titanic you see one error after another that combined to cause a disaster not so unlike this one.

It is a lesson from history constantly ignored by those who allow weak or dated regulation.


Titanic boat deck uncluttered with too many unsightly lifeboats.

[olegramps]

37. The saviors were all from First Class. None from the Steerage Class were put on the lifeboats.

[AtheistCrusader]

54. Untrue urban legend.

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivors/

3rd class is 'Steerage'.

First and Second class are over-represented in the survivors, but lifeboats 8, 9, and 12-20 (19 and 20 not officially named so) contained 'steerage' class passengers.


"For some perspective, here is the price of tickets: First Class tickets ranged from £30 for a berth to £870 for a luxury suite with a private fifty-foot promenade. A Second Class ticket could be purchased for as little as £12. Steerage tickets ranged from £3 to £8. I have seen various estimates of how much that would be worth in current US dollars, but the cheapest ticket would have cost a clerk, typist, or shipyard worker a month's salary. The most expensive First Class ticket was similar in price to that of the most expensive luxury automobile."

63% of first class survived, 43% of second class, and 25% of third class. Another way of looking at it, instead of a demographic, the same number of people survived from 2nd and 3rd class, at 172 and 171 respectively.

[JoshieR]

58. Seems like...

...by your own numbers, that poorer passengers had a lower probability of survival which lends credibility to the idea that the wealthy were catered to moreso than the non-wealthy.

[AtheistCrusader]

59. They were.

That would be a true way of looking at it. If by no other metric than the lifeboats were located on the top decks, meaning, they were installed on the decks that contained first and second class accomodations.

But to say 'no one from steerage was put on the lifeboats' is incorrect.

[olegramps]

63. I stand corrected. I repeated this from a novel without varifing.

However, there is a distinctly higher percentage of survivors in the the First and Second Class as compared to Third Class (Steerage Class)


Survivors, victims and statistics
See also: Maritime disasters, List of passengers on board RMS Titanic, and List of crew members on board RMS Titanic
Category Number aboard Number of survivors Percentage survived Number lost Percentage lost
First class 329 199 60.5 % 130 39.5 %
Second class 285 119 41.7 % 166 58.3 %
Third class 710 174 24.5 % 536 75.5 %
Crew 991 214 23.8 % 685 76.2 %
Total 2,223 706 31.8 % 1,517 68.2 %

Of a total of 2,223 people aboard the Titanic only 706 survived the disaster and 1,517 perished.<53> The majority of deaths were caused by hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water.<54> At this water temperature, death could be expected in less than 15 minutes.<55>

Men and members of the 2nd and 3rd class were less likely to survive. Of the male passengers in second class, 92 percent perished. Less than half of third-class passengers survived.

Six of the seven children in first class survived, all of the children in second class survived, whereas less than half were saved in third class. 96 percent of the women in first class survived, 86 percent of the women survived in second class and less than half survived in third class. Overall, only 20 percent of the men survived, compared to nearly 75 percent of the women. Men in first class were four times as likely to survive as men in second class, and twice as likely to survive as those in third.<56>

Four of the eight officers survived. About 21 of the 29 able seamen survived and all of the 7 quartermasters and 8 lookouts survived. 3 of the 13 leading firemen survived, around 45 other firemen survived and around 20 of the 73 coal trimmers survived. 4 of the 33 greasers survived and 1 of the 6 mess hall stewards survived. Around 60 of the 322 stewards and 18 of the 23 stewardesses survived. 3 of the 68 restaurant staffs survived. All of the postal clerks, guarantee group and eight-member orchestra perished.

[AtheistCrusader]

64. Absolutely.

First class had the benefit of not only social standing, but physical proximity and access to the few lifeboats installed on the ship, since first class occupied the upper two floors, including the deck, which is where the lifeboats were located. In the crew's confusion and ill-preparedness, they even launched some of them early, half filled, or less. (Later plucked precious few from the water directly)

Kind of upsetting that such a high percentage of the crew survived, since the welfare of the passengers was in their hands.

[nashville_brook]

33. i agree -- it totally counters everything we know about the magical hand of the free market.

feh.

[Javaman]

36. Because people are expendable, oil rigs are not.

Lose a few workers? no problem, they will just hire more people desperate to do work any kind of work.

while the rig, which rents for several 100K a day, well, can't lose that.

this whole mess, shouldn't only be a referendum on our use of oil, but the slow take over of everything by corporations.

bottom line beats a life.

[Kitty Herder]

40. That's exactly how they see it.

Assholes.

[Brickbat]

46. They're not worried about protocol. They're worried about being held responsible and being punished

if they make the wrong decision, even if they make the right decision with the information they have at the time. You see it all the time in poorly run industrial settings. Bad managers learn from their own bad managers.

[SharonAnn]

48. Because "These people", the CEOs are Financial Engineers. They don't make things work.

They make things pay well, for themselves.

They often have no clue as to what the real work is, how it gets done, what it takes to do it, etc.

I've seen this in many different types of companies over the years.

Rarely do you see an engineer or a production manager make it to CEO. That's because they focus on getting things done, not on maximizing the paychecks of the brass.

Let's face it, sometimes getting things done, especially getting them done properly, costs some money.

End of rant.

[Toucano]

15. You didn't say, "Mother, may I".

"Offshore installation manager" required to throw the kill switch while the damn thing is on fire.

There's a lot more going on with these rigs than we've imagined.

[pansypoo53219]

16. in china

that BP idiot would be dead by august.

[xxqqqzme]

18. The disaster is over a month old.

In China that clown would have already faced a firing squad.

[Ex Lurker]

21. point of clarification: you don't "throw" a deadman switch.

it's a switch that kicks in automatically in the event of some specified occurrence.

[Merchant Marine]

23. The roll-call thing sounds crazy at first glance

But its one of those things that has to be done before boarding the lifeboats. At least that's what we're taught. Accountability, Accountability, Accountability. Leave nobody behind, and above all do not abandon ship without being ordered to.

That's a maritime tradition coming out of shameful incidents like the Yarmouth Castle, where merchant seamen took to the lifeboats of a passenger liner that was on fire, abandoning the passengers to die.

Not knowing how to detach the boats has got to be fake though. I've operated those covered lifeboats, they all have a hydrostatic release that actuates automatically. If that fails there's a manual release that is very obviously marked.

[Rex]

25. Well if they were having a 'safety party' for all those days of good work.

then I bet they were freaking out when the rig started to blow apart. It is the mentality that is so absorbed into our culture now that someday it will get us killed, all of us. Life is not cheaper than profit or I guess it really is. What a flustercluck.

[Hubert Flottz]

28. I guess the higher ups never heard of a fire drill...

All those billions in profit and they were too cheap to attend to employee safety or upkeep on emergency equipment.

[malaise]

30. Unfuckingbelievable

No other word works here.

[tclambert]

31. In a crisis, you can give yourself a battlefield promotion to field marshal

if you find yourself in possession of the solution and the higher ups don't know what they're doing. On the real battlefield, officers may be killed or cut off from communicating with their troops. In such cases, a lowly private may find himself in command. In real life, managers may freeze up because they don't have the detailed knowledge to make the technical decisions in a crisis, and you don't have time to call a meeting to discuss it.

If you know the right thing to do, DO IT, and explain it later. If the manager whose authority you usurped has a problem with you saving lives afterward, then he is an idiot, and you are a hero.

[SharonAnn]

49. You may be a hero, butyou'll be fired. He may be an idiot, but he'll still get a paycheck.

Your family will be broke while his will be wealthy.

[BrklynLiberal]

34. Every day, in every way, this gets worse and worse.

[Ganja Ninja]

35. Once again this disaster, like the Massey mine disaster, might have been prevented if

the workers had been unionized.

We had regulations, they ignored them.

We had inspectors, they bribed them.

Union workers would have provided an extra layer of protection when the companies try to cut corners and save money at the expense of safety.

[patrice]

38. This IS a metaphor for the authoritarian corporate culture in America. NO ONE makes any decisions

but those who stand to profit the most from maintaining the status-quo - NO MATTER HOW FUCKED UP THAT IS - Wall Street corruption pretty much demonstrates that this is true. Is it any wonder that the cost of doing business in Amerika is higher than anywhere else in the world? Oh, wait a minute, that's all because of taxes. :sarcasm:

What corporation really want is less taxes so they can pull more people into their top heavy ranks and increase the ante (salaries + bonuses) in order to prevent ANY decisions being made by employees, not just when to hit the panic button when the shit hits the wall.

[charlesg]

39. BP manager overseeing tests had scant experience, said he was on the rig to "learn about deep water"

The most complete account so far:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704026204575266560930780190.html

MAY 27, 2010
BP Decisions Set Stage for Disaster
By BEN CASSELMAN And RUSSELL GOLD

[Bette Noir]

42. Damn.

Negligent homicide, anyone?

[burnsei sensei]

45. As always.

Quote:
Benjamin LaCroix, a tank cleaner, said walls and ceilings were caving in and workers were running for their lives, and yet rig officials wanted to do a roll call. end quote.

The workers are right, but not trusted.
The worst thing one can do in these times is to uncritically trust the guys in the offices above you.

[Blue Owl]

47. Safety Last. Profit First.

n/t

[Recursion]

51. That's not a "deadman's switch", then

If there's any sort of deliberative process for switching it, or it relies on any sort of system power or control to operate, it's not a deadman's switch. In this case, a deadman's switch would involve something like hydraulic power holding up a 10-ton cap over the wellhead. When the power goes away, the cap falls down.

[happygoluckytoyou]

53. SO WHO HERE HAS BACKED UP THEIR DATA LATELY...procedures never followed are nothing

[voteearlyvoteoften]

56. omfg

those poor men

[provis99]

61. we need to go Chinese justice on these BP CEOs.

Charge them, with murder, and execute them.