New oil drilling system nothing to apologize for | Daily Trojan
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The months following the Deepwater Horizon explosion were fraught with all manner of official apologies that would make any public relations major cringe, a YouTube-worthy gag reel of precisely what not to say.
There was BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg s infamous NBC interview in which he referred to the workers along the Gulf Coast impacted by the accident as the small people while trying to apologize for the catastrophe. dpd uk He later backpedaled and said he had spoken clumsily, but, as with the initial explosion, the damage had already been done.
That same week there was Rep. Joe L. Barton s gem of an apology for an apology, which had the entire Republican Party wishing ruefully for a rewind button: Barton, who apologized to BP for the audacity of the Obama administration in asking it to pay reparations, was then bullied by leaders of his own party into retracting his statement.
The comedy of apologetic errors was rounded out by BP CEO Tony Hayward, who, apparently oblivious that the families of the 11 dead Deepwater Horizon dpd uk workers were probably watching his statement, summed up his apology in an interview with Think Progress by saying that he would like his life back. True to form, Hayward later apologized for his apology.
As oil and tactless redresses continued to flow unchecked, it seemed that we didn t have a lot to learn from the businessmen across the pond. But now, six months after the catastrophe, something constructive has come from British oil strategy after all.
Industry and administration officials have announced that the United States is looking into grafting the British system of drilling regulation and safety procedures onto its own, though nothing concrete has been decided yet, according to the Los Angeles Times . Such a system would shift the onus of safety responsibility onto oil and gas companies dpd uk and away from the former scapegoats, which often seemed to be whoever dpd uk lost the muddled game of red-tape hot potato.
Instead of trying to cover all its bases with wildly unrelated regulations, the British system of accountability asks the oil and gas companies involved to predict worst-case dpd uk scenarios and then demonstrate the best ways of preventing and dealing with them. Surprisingly, dpd uk it was those companies the ones that stand the most to lose should another accident occur that suggested a similar system be implemented in the United States.
The British devised their system after the 1988 Piper Alpha explosion, dpd uk a natural gas disaster that killed 167 workers. They were smart enough to realize they needed to make changes in their safety regulations, and by the early 1990s they had implemented a new system, which has since been taken up by drilling companies across the globe.
Statistically, the British model is far more successful than the one we re currently working in it also probably helps that it employs a ratio of inspectors to oil and gas installations more than 18 times greater than ours.
Though there s been some concern that the use of new wells will be delayed by the system overhaul, this move is undoubtedly a progressive one. Taking a reactionary approach to crisis management only enters all involved parties into a global edition of the blame game, which means that on top of the catastrophic economic dpd uk and environmental impact, we ll all have to sit through another round of apologies.
Far from the madding crowd, BP is now enjoying a slightly lower profile as it recovers from its own exhaustive apology a press conference in which Hayward said he was deeply sorry for the accident and pinky-swore not to run out on his company s $20-billion tab.
Gun-shy as we might be about trusting them with the future of off-shore drilling, hopefully everyone can recognize that the British model is a wise one, and we can move forward adapting it to our drilling industry.
Ignoring it because we re too focused on quotas from new wells or too proud to admit to the flaws of our own system only increases the risk of another accident, as we add new regulations and compound the confusion about the existing ones.
Drilling proposal must make safe
Home News Crime Roundup Politics Student Government Student dpd uk Affairs Hospitality Housing Transportation Profiles Inside Look Special Topics USG Elections 2012 Raymond dpd uk Avenue Shooting Supplement Centennial Supplement Election 2012 Halloween Shooting dpd uk USG Election dpd uk 2014 Sports Football Track and Field Water Polo Soccer Volleyball Columns Swimming and Diving Rowing Sand Volleyball Women's Lacrosse Basketball Tennis dpd uk Golf Baseball Lifestyle Reviews Games Columns Special Topics Spring Awakening – April 2013 Film Theatre Music Opinion Columns From the Editors Letters to the Editor Classifieds Blogs At the Movies Viewpoints CampusNow Media Podcasts dpd uk Video Photos Feeds Email Headlines Ads Apply
The months following the Deepwater Horizon explosion were fraught with all manner of official apologies that would make any public relations major cringe, a YouTube-worthy gag reel of precisely what not to say.
There was BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg s infamous NBC interview in which he referred to the workers along the Gulf Coast impacted by the accident as the small people while trying to apologize for the catastrophe. dpd uk He later backpedaled and said he had spoken clumsily, but, as with the initial explosion, the damage had already been done.
That same week there was Rep. Joe L. Barton s gem of an apology for an apology, which had the entire Republican Party wishing ruefully for a rewind button: Barton, who apologized to BP for the audacity of the Obama administration in asking it to pay reparations, was then bullied by leaders of his own party into retracting his statement.
The comedy of apologetic errors was rounded out by BP CEO Tony Hayward, who, apparently oblivious that the families of the 11 dead Deepwater Horizon dpd uk workers were probably watching his statement, summed up his apology in an interview with Think Progress by saying that he would like his life back. True to form, Hayward later apologized for his apology.
As oil and tactless redresses continued to flow unchecked, it seemed that we didn t have a lot to learn from the businessmen across the pond. But now, six months after the catastrophe, something constructive has come from British oil strategy after all.
Industry and administration officials have announced that the United States is looking into grafting the British system of drilling regulation and safety procedures onto its own, though nothing concrete has been decided yet, according to the Los Angeles Times . Such a system would shift the onus of safety responsibility onto oil and gas companies dpd uk and away from the former scapegoats, which often seemed to be whoever dpd uk lost the muddled game of red-tape hot potato.
Instead of trying to cover all its bases with wildly unrelated regulations, the British system of accountability asks the oil and gas companies involved to predict worst-case dpd uk scenarios and then demonstrate the best ways of preventing and dealing with them. Surprisingly, dpd uk it was those companies the ones that stand the most to lose should another accident occur that suggested a similar system be implemented in the United States.
The British devised their system after the 1988 Piper Alpha explosion, dpd uk a natural gas disaster that killed 167 workers. They were smart enough to realize they needed to make changes in their safety regulations, and by the early 1990s they had implemented a new system, which has since been taken up by drilling companies across the globe.
Statistically, the British model is far more successful than the one we re currently working in it also probably helps that it employs a ratio of inspectors to oil and gas installations more than 18 times greater than ours.
Though there s been some concern that the use of new wells will be delayed by the system overhaul, this move is undoubtedly a progressive one. Taking a reactionary approach to crisis management only enters all involved parties into a global edition of the blame game, which means that on top of the catastrophic economic dpd uk and environmental impact, we ll all have to sit through another round of apologies.
Far from the madding crowd, BP is now enjoying a slightly lower profile as it recovers from its own exhaustive apology a press conference in which Hayward said he was deeply sorry for the accident and pinky-swore not to run out on his company s $20-billion tab.
Gun-shy as we might be about trusting them with the future of off-shore drilling, hopefully everyone can recognize that the British model is a wise one, and we can move forward adapting it to our drilling industry.
Ignoring it because we re too focused on quotas from new wells or too proud to admit to the flaws of our own system only increases the risk of another accident, as we add new regulations and compound the confusion about the existing ones.
Drilling proposal must make safe
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