BP: Putting Profits Before Safety?

The panel decried a sense of complacency regarding safety issues at BP's refineries and BP's emphasis on personal safety but lack of leadership on process safety issues. The panel lauded BP for co-operating with the review process and said that it did not find sufficient evidence that BP might have intentionally jeopardized the safety of its employees through its cost cutting measures. The panel outlined ten recommendations to BP and urged it to take this opportunity to become a leader in safety issues.

The Texas accident was not the only safety lapse at BP. In March 2006, a huge oil spill was discovered in BP's pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, USA.

On August 6, 2006, BP announced that it had discovered severe corrosion in its pipe and had decided to shut down the oil field indefinitely. This led to an outcry against BP by the public and some policy makers in the US. Safety measures at this oilfield had been neglected despite it accounting for 8 percent of the oil produced by BP. Critics alleged that BP had put profits before safety.

On January 12, 2007, BP surprised analysts by announcing that BP's CEO Lord Robert Browne (Browne) would relinquish his position at the end of July 2007. It announced that the head of BP's exploration and production, Tony Hayward (Hayward), would succeed him...