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Just want to point out this is a letter to the editor, not a WSJ-authored article. As to BP's corporate culture, who is to blame for it's failures - isn't the

Just want to point out this is a letter to the editor, not a WSJ-authored article. As to BP's corporate culture, who is to blame for it's failures - isn't the culture created by humans? I think the distinction being made here between "human failure" and "systemic failure" is incredibly subtle, since any system has to be created by humans in the first place.

hugh3 16y ago
I think many people would really like to blame BP's corporate culture, since it puts the blame on the shoulders of somebody with deep pockets instead of some random schmo with two kids and a mortgage. In fact, I'm certain that this is where the blame is going to wind up, regardless of the merits.
- knowtheory 16y ago
  I think you're losing the forest for the trees. Corporations are made up of individuals. Individuals who bear the responsibility and power invested in them by the corporation for whom they work. If the individual is liable, the corporation is liable, both for having initiated the project in the area, as well as imbuing the individual with the power and responsibility they have. That's why it's a total non-starter that BP, Transocean and Halliburton appear to be trying to make responsibility evaporate (much like the hydrocarbons on the Gulf) by passing the buck to other parties. The contract for drilling is in BPs name. It doesn't matter if they hired incompetent drillers (Transocean) to do the drilling. They did the hiring, it's their responsibility.
knowtheory 16y ago
Good human factors engineering should make human inattention or negligence result in a safe(r) outcome. Clearly these systems are not designed this way and require careful attention to a variety of metrics (if the OpEd is to be believed) in order to proceed in a safe manner. Given that this is the industry standard, it is morally reprehensible, if not criminal, that more care was not paid to the red flags indicated in the oped, or the clear signs that something was going horribly horribly wrong in their piping operation. Lives were at stake, both of the workers and of the wildlife and aquaculture in the Gulf.

hugh3 16y ago

I think many people would really like to blame BP's corporate culture, since it puts the blame on the shoulders of somebody with deep pockets instead of some random schmo with two kids and a mortgage. In fact, I'm certain that this is where the blame is going to wind up, regardless of the merits.

knowtheory 16y ago
I think you're losing the forest for the trees. Corporations are made up of individuals. Individuals who bear the responsibility and power invested in them by the corporation for whom they work. If the individual is liable, the corporation is liable, both for having initiated the project in the area, as well as imbuing the individual with the power and responsibility they have. That's why it's a total non-starter that BP, Transocean and Halliburton appear to be trying to make responsibility evaporate (much like the hydrocarbons on the Gulf) by passing the buck to other parties. The contract for drilling is in BPs name. It doesn't matter if they hired incompetent drillers (Transocean) to do the drilling. They did the hiring, it's their responsibility.

knowtheory 16y ago

Good human factors engineering should make human inattention or negligence result in a safe(r) outcome. Clearly these systems are not designed this way and require careful attention to a variety of metrics (if the OpEd is to be believed) in order to proceed in a safe manner. Given that this is the industry standard, it is morally reprehensible, if not criminal, that more care was not paid to the red flags indicated in the oped, or the clear signs that something was going horribly horribly wrong in their piping operation. Lives were at stake, both of the workers and of the wildlife and aquaculture in the Gulf.