On Sunday in Washington DC, BP鈥檚 oil spill investigators came head to head for the first time with the (NAE) committee appointed by the US Department of the Interior to determine the cause of the spill.
During the meeting, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, pointed to a gaping hole in the company鈥檚 investigation into the Deepwater Horizon blowout that has previously been highlighted by a New Scientist report. BP 鈥渄idn鈥檛 address human performance issues and organisational factors which, in any major accident investigation, constitute major contributing factors [to workplace accidents]鈥, he said.
, released earlier this month, highlighted eight failures that led to the Gulf spill. In a , Mark Bly, its head of safety and operations, admitted that three of the failures were partially caused by errors in human judgement.
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Pressure test
A pressure test which would have revealed problems in the drill 鈥渨as incorrectly deemed a success by BP and Transocean rig personnel鈥, he said. And on three occasions, real-time monitoring data from the rig indicated that pipe pressure had increased, when it should have dropped. These indicators went 鈥渦nobserved or unrecognised鈥 for about 40 minutes, which 鈥渟ignificantly shortened鈥 the workers鈥 emergency response time, Bly said.
BP鈥檚 report noted that 鈥渟imultaneous operations鈥, such as preparing for the next operation 鈥渕ay have distracted the rig crew鈥. But at the meeting Meshkati said the report did not address the 鈥渞oot causes of 鈥榙istraction'鈥 such as worker fatigue, long shifts, and a lack of safety culture at the company.
Other members of the NAE committee have asked questions about mechanical failures, such as why an engine did not shut down in the presence of gas, and how oil and gas travelled up the pipe.
The committee鈥檚 interim findings are due in October.
