Gulf oil spill: BP official questioned about lack of independent safety official on rig

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A federal investigator Thursday compared the safety management of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig to the “fox guarding the hen house.”

The remark came in response to testimony from BP team leader John Guide, the Houston-based supervisor of BP’s two top officials aboard the rig, where an April 20 blowout and explosion led to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Guide told federal investigators Thursday that there was a safety representative employed by rig owner Transocean stationed aboard the Deepwater Horizon at all times. On occasion, BP would dispatch an additional safety officer, he said.

“Isn’t that, say, like a conflict of interest? In terms of the fox guarding the hen house here? In terms of the safety officer, since he [ultimately] works for BP, he would not intervene with stopping an operation?” said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Hung Nguyen, a member of the federal investigation panel meeting in suburban New Orleans.

“It’s really not a safety officer. He’s not a policeman, so to speak,” Guide replied. “He gets involved in the operations to make sure that the necessary risks are being identified and the safety issues are being addressed. ...The culture on the rig is, everyone wants to be safe.”

“Well, culture is one thing, but enforcement ... aboard the vessel is another thing,” Nguyen said.

The testimony came during a hearing of the Coast Guard-Interior Department investigation probing the cause of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

-- Rong-Gong Lin II in Kenner, La.