BP Gulf of Mexico Rig Lacked Alarm Systems

DMandPenfold writes "BP's monitoring IT systems on the failed Deepwater Horizon oil rig relied too heavily on engineers following complex data for long periods of time, instead of providing automatic warning alerts. That is a key verdict of the Oil Spill Commission, the authority tasked by President Barack Obama to investigate the Gulf of Mexico disaster."

Comments

Re:Why do they even bother?

[tomhudson]

Here's one fact - the regulators screwed up. Blaming it on a lack of alarms is disingenuous at best, corrupt at worst.

1. Regulators Failed to Address Risks in Oil Rig Fail-Safe Device
   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/us/21blowout.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
2. Spill report: It could happen again
   'Failure of management' and regulators given blame for disaster
   http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7367856.html
3. Slick Operator
   How British oil giant BP used all the political muscle money can buy to fend off regulators and influence investigations into corporate neglect.
   http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/07/slick-operator.html

This wasn't a technical failure - it was a failure brought out by greed and corruption. The blow-out was only the symptom, and addressing the symptom isn't going to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

We've seen this before - the mortgage disaster and bank bailouts, the savings and loan disaster, etc.

Start by fixing campaign financing - private donations only, strict annual limit per capita, no 3rd party involvement, etc.

-- Barbara