Posted by proforma on September 11, 2011 | No Comments
Houston Chronicle reported Sept.9, 2011, that a top adminstration official said the U.S. government will initiate a long process for setting new offshore drilling safety standards after the joint federal investigation into the Deepwater Horizon is completed.
Tags:Add new tag, Deepwater Horizon, offshore GOM, Workplace Safety
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on December 5, 2010 | No Comments
An article in the Wall Street Journal on December 3, 2010, decried the inspection program managed by the the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, describing how the agency has not kept up with the increasing sophistication of offshore operations, is understaffed and focuses on hardware rather than systemic safety problems.
Quoting the Wall Street Journal: The presidential commission looking into Deepwater Horizon issued a scathing critique of how the U.S. oversees offshore drilling. It faulted the government for skimping on money for the agency, called inspector training “inadequate and unacceptable” and recommended a wholesale change in the way the agency approaches safety regulations.
The article also described “broad agreement” among safety experts that the inspection program be overhauled to help avoid disasters in the future like the Deepwater Horizon. One expert commented that the focus should be on safety management systems and building a culture of safety instead of on equipment.
The full article is available here. Left: Michael Bromwich, appointed by the White House to revamp the former Minerals Management Service which has been renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
Tags:Deepwater Horizon, inspection, OEMRE, safety culture, safety management systems
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on October 28, 2010 | No Comments
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has allowed deepwater drilling to resume, following the report from Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael R. Bromwich. Salazar is directing Bromwich to ensure that each operator demonstrate it has blowout containment resources promptly available in the event of an incident. As described in the DOI press release on October 12, 2010: “BOEM will conduct inspections of each deepwater drilling operation for compliance with regulations, including but not limited to the testing of BOPs.”
In Director Bromwich’s report, you’ll find information related to safety:
- The Safety Interim Final Rule page 10
- The Workplace Safety Rule page 12
- Safety inspections page 13
Tags:BOEMRE, deepwater, Deepwater Horizon, DOI, offshore GOM
Filed Under: Workplace Safety
Posted by proforma on July 22, 2010 | No Comments
Because of brewing storms, BP has installed a cement plug in a relief well that’s been drilled to within about five feet (1.5 meters) of the damaged Macondo well. Senior Vice President Kent Wells told reporters on a conference call that BP may be required to evacuate crews. See details on Bloomberg.
Tags:Deepwater Horizon, Macondo Well, offshore GOM, Oil Spill Cleanup, Workplace Safety Filed Under: Workplace Safety
