Bp Oil Spill Essay
1052 Words
Nov 20th, 2013
5 Pages
The BP oil spill has become widely accepted as the worst manmade environmental calamity in US history. The disaster wasn’t a catastrophe solely because of the extent of harm it caused the environment, but also because of the lack of concern and benevolence BP (primarily their CEO Tony Hayward) showed towards most stakeholders.
This paper will give an account of many of the primary errors that were committed by BP. Also, specific dates will be used as a timeline in order to emphasize BP’s lack of concern and ability to act in a legal and ethical manner during the crisis.
On April 20, 2010, a Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the worst environmental disaster in US history (BBC …show more content…
This paper will give an account of many of the primary errors that were committed by BP. Also, specific dates will be used as a timeline in order to emphasize BP’s lack of concern and ability to act in a legal and ethical manner during the crisis.
On April 20, 2010, a Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the worst environmental disaster in US history (BBC …show more content…
Perhaps if BP wouldn’t have ignored some of the warning signs in the prodromal crisis stage, the crisis could have been avoided. BP’s internal investigation of the Gulf Coast oil spill points to a series of equipment failures, mistakes, and missed warning signs that led to the blowout and fire of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig (Mufson, 2010). Nevertheless, because all warning signs and symptoms were ignored, the acute crisis state was quickly upon them.
On May 8, an attempt to place a giant metal box on top of the leaking well failed. Given the magnitude of the situation, BP was under extreme pressure to find a solution to the crisis. On May 21, BP set up a website where the public could submit ideas on how to clean up the oil and stop the leak. The idea of gathering input from the public could have been affective if BP had a trained crisis management team in place. However, BP didn’t have the ability or resources (trained personnel) to manage the thousands of responses they hadn’t anticipated.
On May 30, 2010, the CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, expressed his stress and fatigue when he made an appearance on the Today Show and said, ‘‘there is no one who wants this over more than I do. I’d like my life back.’’ That didn’t sit so well with the general public, and neither did the statement made to reporters by BP Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, in which he said, ‘‘People say that large oil
On May 8, an attempt to place a giant metal box on top of the leaking well failed. Given the magnitude of the situation, BP was under extreme pressure to find a solution to the crisis. On May 21, BP set up a website where the public could submit ideas on how to clean up the oil and stop the leak. The idea of gathering input from the public could have been affective if BP had a trained crisis management team in place. However, BP didn’t have the ability or resources (trained personnel) to manage the thousands of responses they hadn’t anticipated.
On May 30, 2010, the CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, expressed his stress and fatigue when he made an appearance on the Today Show and said, ‘‘there is no one who wants this over more than I do. I’d like my life back.’’ That didn’t sit so well with the general public, and neither did the statement made to reporters by BP Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, in which he said, ‘‘People say that large oil