It is considered as the worst offshore catastrophe in the world that killed 167 people. This disaster happened due to the explosion and fire of the Piper Alpha platform in the United Kingdom in 1988. The disaster has caused by a combination of different causes including human factors. However, this disaster has led to many changes across the world in the field of safety regulations in order to improve safety in different fields.
Background
In 1972, four companies have joined after obtaining the necessary license to exploring under the North Sea for oil and gas. The joint venture companies discovered oil in early 1973. The discovered oil was in an area called Piper Field which is about 120 miles on the north east side of Aberdeen.
There were three oil platforms in the area, which were Piper Alpha, Tartan, and Claymore platforms. These platforms were sending oil to the near oil terminal in the Orkney Islands, mainly at Flotta through an undersea pipeline. The terminal started to produce oil in 1976 and gas in 1980. However, the production of these two products and carrying them between platforms and the main oil terminal were complicated and thus resulted in the later disaster.
The Piper Alpha Platform
Two manufacturers built the Piper Alpha platform, McDermott Engineering and UIE. Building the platform was not an easy task; especially the potential location of the platform was to be built in the water. The project had to be built in sections at the location of each manufacturer before amalgamating the two parts at the McDermott Engineering location at Ardersier. Then, in 1975, the platform was installed on its location in the water.
Considering safety, the initial design of the platform was satisfactory...
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... qualifications of the managers
• Workers are not trained properly
Lord Cullen had recommended some recommendations on how to improve and prevent such a disaster on the offshore projects. His recommendations as follow:
• Permit to work system is very important and should be considered critical by workers especially during maintenance
• Management should provide proper training to their workers on safety and emergency situation
• Fire walls should be replaced by blast walls
There are some lessons learned from such a disaster such as:
• The quality of managing safety is very vital
• Auditing is critical
• Training for all workers are essential
• Communication between workers especially among maintenance workers
OSHA related standards:
• “OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119”
• “OSHA 29 CFR 1926.803”
• “OSHA 29 CFR 1926.64”
• “OSHA 29 CFR 1926.350”
• “OSHA 29 CFR 1926.153”
On March 15, 1979, the British Tanker Kurdistan, owned by the Nile Steamship Co. Ltd. of Newcastle, England, was bound from Point Tupper, NS, to Quebec City loaded with 29,662 tons of "Bunker C" fuel oil. At 2:20pm, when situated 50 nautical miles northeast of Sydney, Cape Breton, the tanker, lashed by gale force wind, in ice-infested water, developed vertical gashes below the waterline in the number 3 wing tanks. These tanks, which had a total capacity of 10,000 tons, soon began to leak oil.
With $1,000 saved and another $1,000 borrowed form his father, Rockefeller formed a partnership in commission business with Maurice B. Clark. In the same year the first oil well was drilled at Titusville in western Pennsylvania, give a rise to the petroleum industry. Cleveland soon became a major refining center of he booming new industry. In 1863 Rockefeller and Clark entered the oil business as refiners. With Samuel Andrews as their new partner they named the company Andrews, Clark & Co. In 1865 the partnership was broke because of disagreement in management. Rockefeller bought the Company for $72,500 and with Andrews it was named Rockefeller & Andrews.
At the end I come to conclusion that BP was not properly prepared for any disaster like that there risk assessment related to project is very limited and even not considered seriously about it for their own progress and putting live of public and employees in danger by not following the standard SOP of particular project. Even after incident happened they try to close their eyes on reality. The company should take this incident as alarm and should implement proper risk assessment for future and also compensate damages on ethical ground and if they counter this situation in good way their loss of bad reputation will be lesser as it predicted to be they should considered their responsibility towards society as well by doing this they not only making other people lives better but also earning good will to their company.
Oil has always been a coveted natural resource. Oil was discovered in the United States in 1859; since it was a young industry, it was without any structure. That is where John Davison Rockefeller stepped in. John Rockefeller was at one point one of the richest men in the world, monopolizing the oil industry which played a major role in shaping the economy.
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The analysis in this report will include a summary of the sequence of events leading up to the disaster, analysis of the professional ethical behaviours and responsibilities that were compromised, and finally the lessons learned and recommendations to avoid such future disasters.
"Spindletop - the Birth of the Modern Oil Industry." Petroleum Education: The History of Oil. The Paleontological Research Institution, 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2011.
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