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Cautionary Tales · September 15, 2024 · 40m
The Well That Blew: Deepwater Horizon
Cautionary Tales
The Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010 — how cost-cutting, schedule pressure, and the ignoring of multiple warning signs led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history and the deaths of 11 workers.
Highlights
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Every major disaster is preceded by multiple ignored warnings — the information existed but wasn't used
Harford traces at least seven warning signs in the 24 hours before the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Each was noticed, each was explained away, and each was an opportunity to prevent the disaster.•
Cost-cutting and schedule pressure are invisible until they kill — then they're obvious in retrospect
Harford shows how BP's drive to cut costs and speed up operations was documented in emails, meeting notes, and memos. In retrospect, every cost-cutting decision was a step toward the explosion.