Question

When all is said and done, it's likely to be one of the worst environmental disasters, if not the worst, in U.S. history.9 British Petroleum's (BP) Deepwater Horizon offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded in a ball of flames on April 20, 2010, killing I1 employees. This initial tragedy set in motion frantic efforts to stop the flow of oil. followed by a long and difficult cleanup process. Although the impacts of the explosion and oil spill were felt most strongly by businesses and residents along the coast and by coastal wildlife, those of us inland who watched the disaster unfold were also shocked and dismayed by what we saw happening. What led to this disaster, and what should BP do to minimize the likelihood of it ever happening again?

One thing that has come to light in the disaster investigation is that it's no surprise that something like this happened. After Hurricane Dennis blew through in July 2005, a passing ship was shocked to see BP's new massive S1 billion Thunder Horse oil platform "listing dangerously to one side, looking for all the world as if it were about to sink." Thunder Horse "was meant to be the company's crowning glory, the embodiment of its bold gamble to outpace its competitors in finding and exploiting the vast reserves of oil beneath the waters of the gulf." But the problems with this rig soon became evident. A valve installed backwards caused it to flood during the hurricane even before any oil had been pumped. Other problems included a welding job so shoddy that it left underwater pipelines brittle and full of cracks. "The problems at Thunder Horse were not an anomaly, but a warning that BP was taking too many risks and cutting corners in pursuit of growth and profit”

Then came the tragic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon. Before the rig exploded, there were strong warning signs that something was terribly wrong with the oil well. Among the red flags were several equipment readings suggesting that gas was boiling into the well, a potential sign of an impending blowout. Those red flags were ignored. Other decisions made in the 24 hours before the explosion included a critical decision to replace heavy mud in the pipe rising from the seabed with sea water, again possibly increasing the risk of an explosion. Internal BP documents also show evidence of serious problems and safety concerns with Deepwater. Those problems involved the well casing and blowout preventer. One BP senior drilling engineer warned, “This would certainly be a worst-case scenario.”

The federal panel charged with investigating the spill examined 20 “anomalies in the well’s behavior and the crew’s response.” The panel is also investigating in particular why “rig workers missed telltale signs that the well was close to an uncontrolled blowout.” The panel’s final report blamed both BP and its contractors for the failures that led to the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon. Many of those failings stemmed from shortcuts to save time and money. However, the report also faulted the government for lax oversight of the companies

1- Define the main issue/issues of this case study.

2- What type of control – feedforward, concurrent, or feedback- do you think would have been the most useful in this situation? Explain your choice/s.

3- Why do you think company employees ignored the red flags? How could such behavior be changed in the future?

4- What could other organizations learn from BP’s mistakes?

Answer 1

1. In this case, BP organization, installed an oil platform named 'Thunder Horse' to exploit the oil beneath the water. It would give the organization huge profits and make them ahead of their competitors. But the issue with this oil platform was that it was not safe as it could lead to the situation of causing flood because of a valve installed in it.

One more issue was with the welding work which led to leave cracks in the pipe. This was not at all safe for the employees working there from safety point if view.

Before the explosions occurred, it gave signs regarding it but it was being ignored by the employees and the other organization officials. And as a result of this this explosion occurred.

This was the main issue in the above case study.

2. In this case, the best control that could have been brought in use and would be most useful is feed forward control.

In feed forward control, steps are taken to recognise the risks or problems before they have occurred and a possible solution is formed to tackle the situation.

If we talk about the above case, as was giving signs of the disaster, the organization officials should have actively focused on feed forward control and taken steps to avoid this disaster.

The organization would have not been engaged in activities that were risky for their organization. Thus taking this preventive step would reduce the chances for disaster.

If instead of feed forward, the feedback or concurrent control would have being brought in use that meant taking actions during food occurred or after flood occurred respectively.

But these two controls would be of no use as disaster had already been taken place and lives of employees would have already endangered.

Thus, for the above case only the feed forward case is best.

3. Yes, the company officials ignored the signals given by the equipments that the organization were using. If they would have taken it seriously, the situation can be controlled and lives would have been saved.

In future such type of behaviour should be avoided by employees. Instead they should take should indications seriously and work on that to protect and make the situation under control.

Any organization should not involve with activities that can lead to causing disasters or any other loss just because of profits and growth.

4. As we have seen the case of BP organization, the problem it suffered from, other organizations should should learn from this incident that such activities which can cause disasters and loss to environment and people should be avoided in any type of organization.

Also, every organization should adopt safety measures against disasters being caused due to their organization. This would be of a great help in the time of disaster.

Every enterprise should make sure that its employees are attentive enough to respond to any problem being indicated by the system and should take such matters seriously.

Also, the most important learning this situation presents us that, one should not be involved in any type of wrong deed or unethical activity which is not good ans safe and carry huge amount of risk.

As this risk would led to endanger lives ofanunprople along with causing problem to the environment.

So, it must be kept in mind that anything done in a business should be with right motive and should be ethical. And organization should learn from the situation in which BP organization was made to suffer.