Report: Companies involved in Gulf spill didn't focus on major accident risks

July 25, 2012

(CNN) -- Two of the main companies involved in the disastrous 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill were more focused on personal injury risks than the potential for a major accident, a federal agency said in a report released Tuesday.
 
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency entrusted with investigating serious chemical accidents, released findings from their months-long analysis Tuesday at a public hearing in Houston.
 
The CSB said two of the main companies involved, BP and Transocean, as well as U.S. regulators, focused too heavily on personal injury issues such as dropping objects, slips, trips and falls instead of on overarching considerations of importance, such as the potential of losing control of an oil well or drilling using a complicated rig.
 
The disaster began on April 20, 2010, when an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 people and caused a three-month-long oil spill, sending nearly 5 million barrels of crude spewing into the Gulf.
 
"A number of past CSB investigations have found companies focusing on personal injury rates while virtually overlooking looming process safety issues -- like the effectiveness of barriers against hazardous releases, automatic shutoff system failures, activation of pressure relief devices, and loss of containment of liquids and gases," CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said.

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