From Tragedy, Some Meaning
The most difficult part of being BSEE’s director involves the rare moments when I learn of an offshore fatality. Even though I don’t personally know those who were lost, I still sense a portion of the pain that the families are enduring. When I write a letter to a grieving family member, expressing my condolences, I turn my thoughts next to the things that BSEE can do make this sacrifice meaningful. This is a major reason why I am so passionate about our investigative function.
In 2014, about 12 miles offshore from Louisiana, a cleaning crew was working on an oil production platform. The supervisor of the crew died when an explosion inside an electrostatic heater treater forced him backward and caused him to land on the deck. He left behind a wife and two small children.
This incident resulted in BSEE’s Safety and Incident Investigation Division (SIID) conducting a panel investigation, our highest level of scrutiny. About a month ago, on November 10th, we released the findings of our investigation. Although we cannot turn back the calendar and prevent the harm that was done to the family, we can learn from the experience in a way that reduces the chances of tragedy being inflicted on another family. In fact, we owe this much to those who have suffered and also to every one of the hard-working people who work in America’s offshore energy industry.
After careful consideration of all the facts and following detailed interviews with the people who were working on the platform that day, our panel issued several recommendations. Had any one of the recommendations been followed on that day the explosion that occurred might have been prevented. The recommendations are a bit technical, but in general terms they involve reducing the chances of an electrical ignition source, eliminating the potential for explosive vapors, and properly briefing employees on the hazards of the work. BSEE’s safety bulletin issued on November 10th summarizes the recommendations, and it is my hope that these investigatory findings will prevent any future tragedies related to the cleaning of heater treaters.
What I hope to convey today is the human cost that lies behind safety failures. Our investigators try to explain what happened and why it occurred. They bring meaning to tragedy, and I think some good comes from that. We can never be certain about the exact number of lives that are saved by prevention and knowledge-based safety behaviors, but I think we all know that whenever we relax safety considerations, we run unnecessary risks. Alternatively, when we commit ourselves to a culture of safety, especially in the dangerous conditions of the offshore energy industry, we honor those who have suffered so that we might learn. It’s this commitment to getting workers home to their families that drives BSEE to investigate every serious incident as thoroughly as we investigated the explosion on the platform. And it is the reason why we need the offshore industry to fully incorporate the investigators recommendations.