Willful

The long awaited OSHA report on the Hard Rock collapse is now public.  Citations are issued to 10 different companies involved in the work which gives an idea of the systemic nature of the problem. One would think such comprehensive negligence would implicate the developer and general contractor.  But thanks to the acrobatic legalese of construction projects, they may or may not be held directly liable.

Anyway according to this article, OSHA points its most emphatic finger at Heaslip Engineering.

The OSHA citations include a "willful" violation filed against Heaslip for including steel connections that were "inadequately designed, reviewed or approved, affecting the structural integrity of the building." OSHA defines a willful violation as one in which "the employer either knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement (purposeful disregard) or acted with plain indifference to employee safety."

Because I'm sure people are wondering, state dept of ethics filings show Heaslip Engineering and its owner James Heaslip have made campaign contributions to John Bel Edwards, Billy Nungesser, Joe Lopinto, Scott Walker, and John Young.  That's statewide office holders and some Jefferson Parish people.  I didn't see any contributions to New Orleans office holders BUT keep in mind this is just me doing a quick and dirty search. Also they do contribute to the New Orleans Home Builders Association which is a catch all construction PAC that spreads money around to everybody.

Also, in 2019, Heaslip was recognized by City Business for professional contributions to "Excellence in Construction and Real Estate" which is nice.

Paper cut

BP Day is this Sunday.  How are you celebrating?

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen oil companies and trade groups have lined up to oppose plans to broaden the federal government’s oversight of safety practices at wells, saying existing standards are enough to protect workers nationwide.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration would be foolish to force new and producing wells to satisfy process safety management standards that have governed other industrial operations for decades, said the American Petroleum Institute, Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources, the Texas Oil and Gas Association and other groups in comments filed with the agency.

“Applying (process safety management) to the exploration and production segment of the oil and gas industry is like prescribing painkillers for a paper cut,” said Rick Muncrief, senior vice president of operations for Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources.

In July of 2012 a Chemical Safety Board investigation named the lack of process safety standards as a primary factor in the loss of eleven lives to the "paper cut" on the Deepwater Horizon.

CSB Chairperson Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso said, “A number of past CSB investigations have found companies focusing on personal injury rates while virtually overlooking looming process safety issues – like the effectiveness of barriers against hazardous releases, automatic shutoff system failures, activation of pressure relief devices, and loss of containment of liquids and gases. Furthermore, we have found failures by companies to implement their own recommendations from previous accidents involving, for example, leaks of flammable materials.”

In its investigation of the Macondo disaster, the CSB found that BP and its contracted drilling rig operator, Transocean, were focused on personal safety issues such as worker injury rates, rather than broader safety issues involving the process of drilling for oil using a complex rig.

Noting the lack of sustained focus on process safety, CSB Investigator Cheryl MacKenzie described an “eerie resemblance” between the 2005 explosion at the BP Texas City refinery and the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon.

Note here that they're saying the 2010 explosion showed that the lessons of a 2005 explosion went unheeded.  And now they're set on making the same mistakes. 

Quick and fun BP facts

The BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response plan the MMS apparently traced with a pen before rubber stamping doesn't seem to have been thoroughly researched.

There's mounting evidence that federal regulators at the Minerals Management Service were paying zero attention to the oil industry, particularly when it came to authorizing oil spill response plans. Case in point: BP's Oil Spill Response Plan for the Gulf of Mexico lists sea lions, seals, sea otters, walruses in its evaluation of how a spill might affect local wildlife. The problem? None of these critters live in the Gulf.

BP has a less than stellar health and safety record

..the Center for Public Integrity reports, the company was responsible for 97 percent of the worst violations cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration between June 2007 and February 2010.

But at least they approach it with a sense of humor.

Now The Daily Beast has obtained a document—displayed below—that goes to the heart of BP procedures, demonstrating that before the company’s previous major disaster—at a moment when the oil giant could choose between cost-savings and greater safety—it selected cost-savings. And BP chose to illustrate that choice, without irony, by invoking the classic Three Little Pigs fairy tale.