Frontline - The Spill

[J.O.]

Just finished watching the latest episode of Frontline on the PBS website. This one is titled The Spill and looks into serious safety problems that have plagued BP for years as they put profit and shareholder value ahead of safety. Naturally it covers the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but there were plenty of signs in advance of the spill that BP had systemic safety culture issues. It's a great example of how an insatiable drive for higher profits combined with "blind eye" government oversight led to numerous safety problems in a high risk industry. This should be required viewing for anyone involved in SMS, both industry and regulatory. In many ways, I couldn't help but think of Dryden as I watched it.