...KATRINA AND THE BP OIL SPILL 1 THE HURRICANE KATRINA AND THE BP OIL SPILL 6 The Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill Hieu Le Columbia Southern University The Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill The 2005 Hurricane Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters in the United States history. This hurricane killed 1836 people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and other nearby states, and deleted hundred billion dollars in wealth. Several people were losing their homes, businesses and they had to live in poor conditions, such as, without water, foods, and lack of shelters. Although the Bush administration had been reaching out to help civilians by sending medical staffs, authorities, and other legal officers to help the hurricane victims, critics had argued that the government reacted slow, little, and too late which could be been taking their actions much faster and better supports. The primary reasons many critics argue that local, and federal governments did not react fast enough to rescue Hurricane victims, who had been suffering in this hurricane. Media suggest...
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...Since April of 2010, BP Oil Company has been working to repair the damages of an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Do Something, an environmental website, have reported the death and injury of 28, more than 8,000 animals dead within six months, and 16,000 miles of coastline pollution (11 Facts about the BP Oil Spill). Many accounts blame this catastrophe on BP’s neglect to properly build and maintain machinery. Several clean up workers and fisherman have been affected due to this oil spill (Reed 35). People living near the coast line has been affected due to polluted air and water. Many children had been sick and they had problem breathing fresh air. BP’s ways of “cutting corners” are a point of interest when considering the factors leading to the Deep-water Horizon Oil Spill. There were several issues with this oil spill: professional issues, ethics and new technology issues, legal, regulatory and political, safety issues, and environmental issues. If BP would have taken care of all these issues there had been no oil spill. According to the official federal report, BP’s management cut corners in many areas, especially during the installation of the drill. While drilling the drill pipe got stuck and the engineering had to redesign the parameters but completely cut corners to drill the fastest way possible, which was the start of BP’s problems. Events leading up to the Deepwater Horizon incident led one to question the values and motives of the British Petroleum...
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...William, Scott Ethics In the case of BP oil the internal factors that “affect” ethics within management started at the very top of BP. In, the beginning its handling of the deepwater horizon spill was a disaster. Bp was involved in a number of projects at the outset of this disaster in an effort to save; money However at the start there was a lack of adequate communication between top level management and the front office. Bp planned to use cement that was much lighter to cap the well and therefore cost less in a cost saving measure greed became a factor. That is an act of poor judgment on any individual in a managerial capacity. Bp from the start did not have a plan on how to go about organizing the cleanup of the spill even after they had been informed that if they would have used the right cement the first time the disaster could have been avoided. Management made many calls that compromised their ethics right from the start not only within the company but also on the jobsite in the way that they went about organizing the cleanup put employs at risk in efforts to make the company look more favorable. In similar incidents BP had been cited in the pass for safety issues. After the clean up BP lead the way in helping the fisherman affected by the spill a subcontractor for BP oil is hiring unemployed fishermen for boom deployment off the cost of Louisiana as part of the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (Kelly May 2010). BP oil also set up a fund to help families...
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...BP Case and The Gulf of Mexico Jorge Salazar Hawaii Pacific University MGMT 6000 September 23, 2015 BP Case and The Gulf of Mexico Introduction The BP case concerning the Gulf of Mexico dealt with the second largest company in the world at that time (2010), it was founded in 1908 and it had more than 92,000 employees. Deepwater Horizon had two main components, owned and operated by offshore oil drilling company (Transocean) and it was leased by BP Oil Company. The BP oil spill occurred in April 20, 2010, there were three major cracks that spilled the crude oil into the ocean. The blast occurred approximately 41 miles from the Louisiana coast. The leaked continued for about three months after the explosion from the Macondo well, it was estimated that anywhere between 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day were leaked, it is estimated that after all was said and done, approximately 4.9 million barrels were spilled. It is also important to mention that 11 workers died when this explosion happened. When the spill happened it affected a lot more than BP was expecting; it wasn’t just the Gulf of Mexico sea life (sea turtles, marine mammals, coral and fisheries), but it also affected all of the shores of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. When it hit all of these states, it affected their tourism, fishing, food, and healthcare just to name a few of the things. President Barack Obama stated, “Already, this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has...
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...Final Paper Management 5000 – OGF1 2010 Management Statement of the Problem From the perspective of strategic planning and leadership, how could British Petroleum Company (BP) have minimized the risk of the deepwater oil drilling incident of April 20, 2010, and done a better job of crisis management after the fact? This environmental emergency was the result of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion which killed 11 workers, injured 17 others, and resulted in a sea-floor oil gusher leaking 185 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The media is filled with stories criticizing BP for not taking proper precautions to prevent the accident, and for their public response immediately following it. The following are representative of the headlines covering media outlets across the country and internationally: “BP touts itself as ‘green’, but faces PR disaster with BP oil spill” (Farhi, 2010), “Another Torrent BP Works to Stem: Its C.E.O.” (Krauss, 2010) “BP contingency plans for dealing with oil spill was riddled with errors” (Clark, 2010), “BP’s failures made worse by PR mistakes” (Weber, 2010), “BP oil spill: Leadership and IT failure (Krigsman, 2010). Statement of major relevant principles to be applied The major relevant principles to be applied to this analysis are strategic planning and leadership as they relate to crisis management. Strategic Planning Strategic planning is the process by which organizations define their strategy and make decisions...
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...On April 20, 2010 the BP licensed Transocean deep water drilling rig exploded, killing 11 people and injuring another 17.Roughly, 4.9 million barrels of oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 subsequent days. Days after the accident British Petroleum’s stock dropped by 2% due to stockholders worries of cleanup costs and upcoming legal claims. In order to mitigate the damage done to their image BP created a new portion of their website called the “Gulf of Mexico Restoration.” BP wanted to show the public that it was doing everything possible to restore the Gulf of Mexico’s local economy and environment to what it was before the accident. To show its commitment to cleaning up the Gulf, BP uses statistics showing how it is putting full effort into the restoration, favorable wording and a campaign to distance itself as much as possible from taking full responsibility, and powerful images to paint a picture of what kind of efforts it is putting into the Gulf. Without using these strategies, the public and investors alike would see BP in a completely different light. In order to illustrate it cares about and is committed to Gulf restoration BP provides a chart of payments it has made on the main page of the Restoration of the Gulf. In order to do this BP makes sure anyone that accesses this portion of its site will see what efforts were put in by BP. BP has pumped $14 billion into the oil spill response and clean up. This alone shows that BP is doing all that it can to...
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...shared antibodies via the placenta with the mother. If an infant is born with manifestations of the disease, he/she will recover as soon as the maternal antibodies have disappeared. Trends and Barriers There is not a tremendous amount of information on the epidemiology of BP. Some studies have shown that there is a 0.2 and 3.0 occurrence in 100,000 people per year. However, BP is the most common form of immunobullous disease in Western Europe with 43 million cases per year in the U.K. There have been 7-13 million cases reported per year in other parts of Europe. There seems to be no link with sex or race with this disease. Some studies have shown that there is a link between BP and other autoimmune disorders such as diabetes, anemia, lichen planus and...
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...Running Head: MISMANAGEMENT AT BP Mismanagement at BP Name: Course: Tutor: University: City/State: Date: Mismanagement at BP In 2010, an explosion off the Gulf of Mexico occasioned the worst oil spill in the history of the US. The well that exploded was jointly owned by BP, Moex and Haliburton with BP owning 65% while the rest owning 10% and 25% respectively. The resulting effect was the death of 11 people, the injury of 17 and spilling between 3 and 4 million barrels of crude oil into the ocean. A commission set by the US president to investigate the cause of the massive spill found that management failures were at the core (Werdigier, 2010). This was further compounded by the lack of sufficient government oversight into the drilling of offshore oil wells. Furthermore, the commissions report argued that the failures were systemic and that without requisite measures, the events were likely to recur. The disaster however was not solely BP’s undoing but was as a result of multiple organizations’ failures. The pollution disaster was especially bad for the environment. These events led to the close evaluation of BP’s management which had sold itself as being driven by environmental safety only to be undone by this disaster and come off as a company more driven by the desire to cut costs (Chazan, Faucon & Casselman, 2010). An analysis of the events leading up to the disaster shows that BP had other major industrial...
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...BP and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Individual Case Analysis of Organizational Culture Introduction There are many issues that can be observed and assessed in the case which has come to be known as the largest oil spill in History. BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill incident brought attention to the kind of culture that U.S. government officials, industry regulatory agencies, and all oil-drilling firms created and fostered. With an industry climate that cared more about production rather than safety and environmental protective efforts, it was easier for drilling companies to make a great deal of flawed decisions in their business practices. If efforts to change the industry culture and implement better standards of operations do not come into play, the likelihood of such a similar event could happen again. As we look in to BP’s earlier years and identify their decision making pattern that were established while adapting to endless changes in their external environments, we will be able to better assess what the organizational culture was like at BP. Looking at the industry as a whole, we can assess how the actions of political parties and regulatory agencies influenced and shaped the culture for many firms operating in that industry. BP was always trying to cut costs wherever possible, worked hard to meet demands, and continuously exploring deeper water drilling opportunities. This type of behavior allowed BP to be an industry leader. With new environmental issues arising...
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...British Petroleum (BP) Case Study Executive Summary This case study report examined a public relation management problem that British Petroleum (BP) faced since the oil spill accident happened in April, 2010. In addition, this thesis recommended possible solutions and implementation plans for BP to deal with the public crisis. On April 20, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history. As a result, a huge loss of money and life was caused and affected serious environmental damage to wild animals and water pollution. BP was accused of their irresponsibility that it took 87 days before the well was closed and sealed. BP’s shares plummeted to the lowest point since 1996. The communities around the Gulf of Mexico blamed BP for their carelessness and appealed for more actions to recover their low income life. BP has already established $20 billion fund to respond the situation in the Gulf of Mexico. However, according to recent research, the amount of the money is not enough to straighten out the crisis. In order to examine the case, we performed PEST and SWOT analysis methods. We focused on evaluating economic and socio-cultural factors that were the major elements had affects on BP’s public image. At the same time, we analyzed and key strengths and opportunities that essential for BP to revitalize its brand image. Our analysis revealed two crucial factors. First, BP’s own...
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...history of the United States. It took 85 days to cap the well. This catastrophe killed wildlife and threatened the livelihoods of fishermen, restaurants, and oil industry workers resulting in massive job losses. According to Wikipedia, an oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. Oil spills may be due to releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs, and wells. Although oil spills can be controlled by chemical dispersion and/or absorption, this is not something easily to recover from. Spills may take weeks, months or even years to clean up. The cost of the oil spill clean-up is reported to be in the billions of dollars. BP had workers on the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig that could have prevented the missteps that led to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill according to the White House oil spill commission. The crew onboard the rig misread the pressure test and decided to move ahead which resulted in the rig exploding. What caused the oil spill to happen on the deep water horizon? The oil spill occurred because of impaired cement which caused the pipes of where the oil is stored to crack. Between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil leaked from a broken pipe each day into the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida were most affected by the BP oil spill. But the entire Gulf coast may have been impacted...
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...and requirements for deep water drilling platforms and machines. There was no excuse for BP on why they weren’t keeping concurrent control so at least they would know what to do and be able to react in a timely fashion. Things which they could have done include capping the well or controlling the flow of the oil leakage. Feedback controls could have been implicated to determine that all the equipment and personnel are fit for the job and would be able to respond to these types of incidents in the future. 2) Using exhibit 10-2, explain what BP could have done better? First BP would have to actually measure their real performance and practices. This would have consisted of receiving information from their workers on the rig to know if they are actually productive in a proper manner. Once that information was sent in and analyzed by BP it should have been compared to both the internal requirements and the external regulations for oil drilling operations. When all of the issues had risen they needed to be taken with extremely high regard by all employees in the company so appropriate action could be taken to prevent the explosion that unfortunately happened. Management needed to act swiftly and be at hand to prevent and identify these problems. 3) Why do you think the company employees ignored the red flags? How could such behavior be changed in the future? The only thing that BP really cared about was there profits, they decided to...
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...The influence of new media PR campaign in changing and reshaping public’s attitudes about a brand (BP). Introduction BP (British Petroleum) is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom incorporated on April 14, 1909, is an integrated oil and gas company. The company provides its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants and the petrochemicals products used to make everyday items as diverse as paints, cloths and packaging. BP operates in two business segments: Exploration and Production, Refining and Marketing. It’s Exploration and Production segment is responsible for its activities in oil and natural gas exploration, field development and production; midstream transportation, storage and processing, and the marketing and trading of natural gas, including liquefied natural gas, together with power and natural gas liquids. Its Refining and Marketing segment is responsible for the refining, manufacturing, marketing, transportation, and supply and trading of crude oil, petroleum, petrochemicals products and related services to wholesale and retail customers. (Reuters, 2012). However, on April 20th, 2010 a deepwater oil rig exploded, causing a massive oil leak nearly a mile underwater off the coast of Louisiana. This leak produced and oil slick of more than 200 million gallons, affecting more than 4,000 miles of shoreline in eastern Mexico and five U.S Gulf Coast states: Texas, Louisiana...
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...surgical and medical ward at a local hospital, I had been buddied with a nurse for an evening shift. We had just had handover from the nurse on the previous shift and among the information handed-over, the patient, in addition to her current diagnosis, also had a history of other co-morbid diseases including heart and blood pressure abnormalities. As such, she was on a number of heart regulating medications which included some beta blockers. As part of time management, we went through the patient's care plan and medication charts to determine what needed to be done and at what time regarding this patient. This guided how we were to execute care during the shift and in a timely manner. Her care plan had indicated that the patient's observations were to be done TDS (three times a day) It was during this process that we decided that it was not necessary, at this point, to take the patient's vital signs as these had been done just a few hours before we had started. When the time for the medication round came, we went to the patient's bed side drawer to collect and give her her medications following the seven rights to medication administration. As a result of our earlier time plan, we did not take her observations. Somehow, the patient asked us curiously why we were not taking her reading as, previously and always before, other nurses seemed to take her readings first? The answer to the patient by the buddy was that we would do that later and I went along with this! I had the...
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...Risk Management An effective risk management system is essential when it comes to the success of an organization. Without a proper risk management plan in effect avoidable mistakes can happen that can have detrimental effects on company. An effective risk management plan will identify potential risks as well as provide ways to avoid these risks to ensure a safe workplace, and financial stability for the organization. Although financial risks are very important for a company, safety risks can severely harm an organization’s employees, users, and reputation. A company that failed to properly implement an effective risk management plan is BP Chemical Company (BP). The risk management failure of BP caused many issues for the organization, employees, so much more including people, places, and things. In 2010 an explosion and fire in the Gulf of Mexico on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was a result of a poor risk management plan that lead to the death of 11 as well as the release of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf (Zolkos & Bradford, 2011). According to a report done by the U.S. Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management the investigators found no evidence that BP performed a formal risk assessment of critical operational decisions made in the days leading up to the blowout. BP's failure to fully assess the risks associated with a number of operational decisions leading up to the blowout was a contributing cause of the Macondo blowout (Zolkos & Bradford, 2012)...
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