Alarms, detectors aboard Deepwater Horizon disabled so top rig officials could sleep

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Run time: 02:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9shhEjTeMhU   Posted on YouTube: July 23, 2010 By YouTube Member: AssociatedPress Views on YouTube: 1293   Posted on DU: July 24, 2010 By DU Member: Amerigo Vespucci Views on DU: 668

 

Alarms, detectors disabled so top rig officials could sleep
The Deepwater Horizon's fire and gas leak alarms were disabled for at least a year to prevent false alarms from waking up rig leaders, a chief engineer told federal investigators.
July 23, 2010|Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Reporting from Kenner, La — Critical fire and gas leak alarm systems had been disabled for at least a year aboard the Deepwater Horizon because the rig's leaders didn't want to wake up to false alarms, a rig chief engineer tech told federal investigators.

"I discovered it was 'inhibited' about a year ago," said Mike Williams, the chief engineer tech who worked for rig owner Transocean aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which erupted in flames April 20, killing 11 men and starting the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
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"I inquired," Williams told an investigative panel from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Interior Department in suburban New Orleans. "The explanation I got was that from the down, they did not want people to wake up at 3 a.m. due to false alarm," Williams said. Williams later said the rig's captain had also agreed that the alarms were to be disabled.

Williams said he complained repeatedly about disabling the systems, from six months to three days prior to the rig's explosion. He said he told supervisors it was unsatisfactory for the alarms to be disabled, but was rebuffed.

The alarm systems could have been helpful to alert crew members of catastrophe and initiate an emergency shutdown system that could have shut down the engines -- a dangerous ignition source -- as soon as a surge of flammable natural gas surged up the oil well onto the rig.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/news/la-oil-spill-disabled-alarms-20100723

[RC]

1. People need to be in prison over this.

Like that will ever happen. BP seems to have enough money to buy whoever is controlling the world.

[Althaia]

3. agreed. the deaths are murder. -nt

[scentopine]

4. Obama doesn't prosecute corrrupt institutions, he rewards them...

Wall Street, CIA, AT&T, MMS, DoD - he is a rigid centrist

He sold our health to health insurance companies, he sold the gulf of mexico to BP for $20 billion.

He continues to defend out sourcing to India.

He is a vigorous defender of the free market.

We will never have vision, hope or justice with Obama at the helm.

He's been a disaster, better than Bush, but we deserve much, much better.

Based on his war escalation in lives and spending, if this were 1980s he'd be considered a Reagan neo-con - he has said Reagan inspires him. Of all the fucking people in this world he pulls Reagan out of his ass.

Now as we sink into deeper recession, he'll bailout another big institution and tell us it will trickle down to us eventually and the centrists and wall street CEOs will cheer.

[Althaia]

2. I've watched Papantonio's videos, and one of the things he will try to legally prove..

..is that the rig operators were recklessly negligent. I'd say that this does the trick, for 'reckless disregard of safety'.

[Aristophrenia]

5. That sounds like Grayson asking the questions -

is he everywhere or what ?!