Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Concern about Safety

By Ian Urbina

July 22, 2010, The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/22transocean.html?_r=1&hp

WASHINGTON - A confidential survey of workers on the
Deepwater Horizon in the weeks before the oil  rig exploded
showed that many of them were concerned about safety
practices and feared reprisals if they reported mistakes or
other problems.

In the survey, commissioned by the rig's owner, Transocean,
workers said that company plans were not carried out properly
and that they "often saw unsafe behaviors on the rig."

Some workers also voiced concerns about poor equipment
reliability, "which they believed was as a result of drilling
priorities taking precedence over planned maintenance,"
according to the survey, one of two Transocean reports
obtained by The New York Times.

"At nine years old, Deepwater Horizon has never been in dry
dock," one worker told investigators. "We can only work
around so much."

"Run it, break it, fix it," another worker said. "That's how
they work."

To read the rest of this article, go to 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/22transocean.html?_r=1&hp

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