Bizarre, Environment, Society, Torts

Report: Alarms Were Disabled Before BP Explosion to Allow Workers To Sleep

A new report suggests that warning systems on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig were turned off at the time before the explosion because alarms were keeping workers awake.


A chief technician for Transocean said that false alarms became bothersome so they disabled the system — before the rig exploded killing 11 people. No alarm sounded

The alarm system may have been disabled as much as a year earlier. Other safety equipment allegedly was also shutdown, including a device to shut down the drill shack in the case of dangerous gas levels.

Such evidence will make it difficult for Transocean and BP to put the entire blame on each other.

Source: Guardian

12 thoughts on “Report: Alarms Were Disabled Before BP Explosion to Allow Workers To Sleep”

  1. Mr DNA
    Ask and you shall receive:

    Schlumberger were responsible for mud logging, but chose to obfuscate the issue. http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/Schlumberger-Denies-Having-Deepwater-Horizon-Mud-Logs.html

    And the last step that caused the disaster was approved by the MMS. http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704026204575266560930780190.html

    Personally, I reckon everyone involved had a hand in the disaster, but the US administration will do their level best to ensure it the damned Furriners who will take the fall for this. Xenophobia bordering on racism is acceptable to this current administration as long as it gets a free pass.

  2. Mr. DNA, not sure of what a mudlogger is but Schlumberger came out to the rig the day of the blast to test the cementing of the well head done by Halliburton. BP told Schlumberger to leave the rig without testing. It would have cost $8K to test the cementing, but only $1K for them to just leave. Lucky for the Schlumberger people, they were gone when it blew.

  5. Somebody should be going to jail for the death of the workers. Any bets on whether BP officials are brought up on homicide charges?

  6. pardon me?
    1, July 25, 2010 at 9:33 am
    Today’s secret word is “insouciant”. When anyone says the secret word, scream real loud.
    ===================================================================
    insouciance: from Burton’s Legal Thesaurus – disinterest, disregard, indifference

    sums it up nicely

  7. Haliburton and the Veep for BP were arguing about the delay and cost over Rig manager said to stop and the Veep told Haliburton to keep drilling.

  8. I’ve sometimes heard this is the “perfect storm” of environmental disasters. Which is looking more and more like it means “every last person involved was incompetent at once.”

  9. Anonymously Yours,

    You raise an excellent question. I have yet to hear the name of the Mudlogging company on board the Deepwater Horizon. It’s either Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, or Halliburton (GeoServices used to operate on a lot of BP rigs, but they’re owned by Schlumberger now).

    On offshore rigs, the Mudlogging unit is usually considered the last line of defense. The driller and the company man might have all the authority, but if the Mudlogger says to stop drilling, the driller usually listens.

    It’s rather mysterious why the name of the Mudlogging company hasn’t been brought in to this.

  10. I’ve come to the logical conclusion that our armed forces, courts, cronies and police state exist simply to protect the corporate powers that be from the bothersome rabble that have the nerve to complain about their constant murderous rape and pillage.

  11. Today’s secret word is “insouciant”. When anyone says the secret word, scream real loud.

  12. Where is the name of Haliburton? They seem to escape publicity and I have an enquiring mind and I want to know.

    Does OSHA cover these types of acts and are they limited by Workers Compensation?

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