The US offshore safety regulator is getting a boost with the hire of 28 more engineers and 48 more inspectors to strengthen safety in the offshore drilling industry.
James Watson, Director Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, says the bureau wants to focus more on industry safety results than on specific rules.
“The first goal of BSEE is to ensure that the equipment is built and maintained to the right standards, that the people are trained and supported by the management and that there is a good monitoring of these activities,” Watson said.
Watson said safety should go beyond Deepwater Horizon disaster and take into consideration accidents and incidents that have occurred offshore throughout its history.
The bureau was formed in 2011 in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in response to criticism that offshore regulators were failing to enforce safety in the offshore.
By Gail Lethbridge
One year ago today, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the worst environmental disaster in US history.
It took lives – 11 workers died.
4.9 million barrels of oil leaked from the BP Macondo well, causing extensive damage to marine, air and land-based wildlife, and the fishing and tourism industries. It was 86 days before the spill was stopped.
Welaptega Marine helped with the solution. We built a high-resolution 3D model to confirm the dimensions of the damaged wellhead. A cap was successfully installed on July 15, 2010.
Download full president’s report here
Washington (CNN) — If the government does not take drastic steps, another deep water oil spill like the BP spill in the Gulf could devastate the United States’ coast, warned an oversight commission Tuesday in a long-awaited report to the president.
More research, funding and oversight are needed to help prevent another disaster, concluded the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
“As drilling pushes into ever deeper and riskier waters where more of America’s oil lies, only systemic reforms of both government and industry will prevent a similar, future disaster,” William K. Reilly, the commission co-chairman.
