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On April 20, 2010, the event of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused 11 employees’ death, and around 35000 to 60000 barrels of oil were pouring into the ocean every day. Facts have been proven that any crisis must go along with the lack of risk management. Offshore oil drilling work is a high-risk occupation which requires strict obedience to the risk control management without any carelessness. In response to the disaster, identifying and assessing the potential risks and analyzing potential impacts are the priorities for the company to develop appropriate oil spill responses and perfect crisis management plans.
There is a variety of risks along with an oil spill disaster. The human right rules the company take responsibility to protect employees away from dangerous situations. Employees’ safety should be put in the first consideration of the risk assessment. Incident could cause significant injuries and even kill people. Ensuring safety facilities in good order will help staff avoid suffering from life-threatening. Potential risks also exist in technical dr...
On January 10th 1901 the discovery of oil at Spindletop would lead to the greatest economy boom the world has ever encountered. The amount of oil that would be discovered across Texas would be more than enough to power America through the next several decades. The effects of having oil would completely change Texas culture, lifestyle, and business tremendously. In the book of Oil In Texas, will prove that America would change completely from agriculture nation to an industrial nation after the discovery of oil in Texas.
The BP oil spill began with the explosion of the mobile offshore drilling unit known as the Deepwater Horizon, then operating in the Macondo Prospect Oil Field some 60 kilometers off the coast of the U.S. state of Louisiana, on April 29, 2010. The leak was capped on July 15, 2010, with a repair to the underwater wellhead ruptured by the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Thus, the BP oil spill lasted for about three months. During this time, roughly 5 million barrels of crude oil leaked from the wellhead into the Gulf of Mexico. The flow rate was not uniform, beginning...
Ethical issues in this case are the impact on tourism industry of Gulf of Mexico and its beaches, unemployment around area because of closure of business, wildlife and the environment destruction and concerned with human health and post incident trauma. It has been almost year but world is still recovering from the devastation of disastrous oil spill. It destroyed the environment and wildlife all over the place and its total impact is still unknown. Environmental impacts may be noticeable for years to come.
In my opinion, BP's response to the oil spill wasn't the best. Plus their spokesperson Tony Hayward's comments did little to help the situation. The response should have been about damage limitations. Hayward's responses made the company seem aloof and unconcerend about the environmental damage being done. When they gave an amout of barrels that were leaking into the ocean, they gave the wrong amount which hurted their credibility. They deflected the blame for the accident. BP would call the oil spill the "Gulf of Mexico oil spill" while the rest of the world called it the "BP oil spill." They might have took the blame but they said it wasn't their accident however they would take responsibility to clean it up even though it wasn't their fault. I think the fact that they used social media to show show updates and progress was a smart move since it is probably now the biggest media median. However, everything else was not the best way to handle this whole situation.
British Petroleum (“BP”) is the company that is being blamed for the incident. Employing 80,000 people, BP is an international oil company that puts different technology to use for finding oil and gas under the Earth’s surface. One of the oilrigs, Deepwater Horizon has drilled 35,000 ft. making it to be the deepest drilling of oil and gas (Walsh). Deepwater Horizon was drilling in the Gulf of Mexico about 52 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip. After the explosion, helicopters searched for 11 crewmembers that reported missing. 17 people were injured (BP Internal Investigation Team). A day later, the rig was found upside down (BP Oil Spill Timeline). The cost to clean up the damage is approximately $760 million (Walsh).
“On March 23, 2005, at 1:20 pm, the BP Texas City Refinery suffered one of the worst industrial disasters in recent U.S. history. Explosions and fires killed 15 people and injured another 180, alarmed the community, and resulted in financial losses exceeding $1.5 billion.” (U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2007) There are many small and big decisions and oversights that led to the incident. Underneath all the specific actions or inaction is a blatant disregard for addressing safety violations and procedures that had been pointed out to BP even years before this event. The use of outdated equipment and budget cuts also contributed to the circumstances that allowed this accident to happen.
As the world frustrated and fumbled at BP over their oil spill on April 20, 2010, the largest marine oil spill in history. Does anyone know the people of Nigeria Delta had lived with oil spillage conditions for the last 50 years? With her op-ed piece “The Oil Spill We Don’t Hear About”, published in The New York Times on June 4, 2010, Anene Ejikeme emphasizes on the oil spills in Niger Delta which is far more alarming and threatening than the BP Gulf Spillage. With her article, Ejikeme’s want to address these problems which appear to be ignored by the international media. In her article she stated, “Media around the world are covering the Gulf oil spill in a way that not even the Nigerian media covers oil spills in Nigeria.” Ejikeme adopts an informative, yet sympathetic tone to deliver and provoke the interest of the phenomenon for her readers. Ms. Ejikeme received her PhD from Columbia University in 2003 and is currently an assistant professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She is considered as a specialist on modern African history; she’s been writing a variety of books and teaching a wide range of courses on the matter. Prior to coming to Trinity, Ejikeme taught at Barnard College in New York, where she was the Director of the Pan-African Studies Program from 2001 to 2003. This op-ed piece continues her interest on the problems that affects African society.
On April 20, 2010, the Macondo wellhead BP pipe leaked crude oil and gas on the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico 42 miles off the Louisiana coast (Gulf Oil Spill). This oil spill is known as the largest spill in U.S. history. The pipe was located 5,000 feet underwater where there are temperatures just above freezing and extremely high pressures (Gulf Oil Spill). Oil spewed from this pipe non-stop for 87 days (Gulf Oil Spill). About twenty percent of it ended up on the ocean floor or on the surface (Gulf Oil Spill). Since it’s hydrophobic, the oil on the surface spreads out and forms slicks. These slicks greatly affect ecosystems and animals. The oil that didn’t end up on the floor or surface hovered in the middle of the ocean, forming layers of oil (Gulf Oil Spill). All 200 million gallons of crude oil mixed throughout the ocean and affected coastal and deep-sea sediments (Gulf Oil Spill). Although the pipe was capped on July 15, 2010 (Gulf Oil Spill), much of the oil still remains on the Gulf floor today.
Accidents are an inevitable part of life. Children learn this at an early age by bumping their head, scraping their knees, or falling off the swings. They learn that sometimes painful experiences just happen, seemingly without cause or reason. These children carry these lessons into adulthood, and then project their tolerance for accidents onto their families and occupation. The chemical industry, while one of the safest industries, has the potential for catastrophic accidents. Through experience and renewed focus on the conservation of life, the chemical industry has improved its safety considerably. In 2005, chemical industry fatality rate (the number of fatalities per year per total number of people in the applicable population) was the third lowest when compared to industries such as agriculture, coal mining, and construction1. However, accidents still occur, sometimes with regrettable repercussions. In 2005, Formosa Plastics Corporation in Point Comfort, Texas experienced an accident with severe consequences.
When it comes to safety most people think they are safe, and they have a true understanding on how to work safe. Human nature prevents us from harming ourselves. Our instincts help protect us from harm. Yet everyday there are injuries and deaths across the world due to being unsafe. What causes people to work unsafe is one of the main challenges that face all Safety Managers across the world.
Most people believe that one man-made natural disaster would teach us to be better, but we have learned that history repeats itself. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or BP oil spill, (in 2010) were both devastating oil spills that shocked the nation. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred due to a tanker grounding. The BP oil spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. These two oil spills were both disasters and had greater effects in certain categories. In this essay, I will be comparing the cause of both oil spills, the damage/effect of both oil spills, and the cleanup of each oil spill.
Nelson, A.N. 1971. Effects of oil on marine plants and animals. London: Institute of Petroleum.
A candidly of risk occurs in every organisation. Governance principals and the occupational health and safety urge that the organisations take reasonable measures to hinder loss, charge or rage to the organisational and all stakeholders/management. Injury and accidents can even happen ultimately with stringent OHS and the fact that an accident when occurs, does not mean that someone is liable if all responsible steps for prevention or minimisation has been taken.
The April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will forever change the way Americans view deepwater oil drilling. No one could have foreseen that BP’s well would spew into the Gulf waters for over 80 days before it was successfully capped. Over the years, many articles have been written about the disaster, and many different viewpoints given in the articles. This essay discusses the oil spill’s effect on Gulf coast animal and plant life, plus whether the government is implementing effective legislation regarding the spill.
Although workplace accidents are very common, the majority of them can be prevented. As a company, you are obliged by the law to protect your employees, so it is important to take the necessary actions that will minimize the risk of accidents (Intelligent HQ, 2015).