The document summarizes key points from the book "Drowning in Oil" by Loren Steffy, which examines how BP's corporate culture emphasizing profits over safety led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. It describes BP having hundreds of safety violations while other companies had few, and how internal documents showed BP weighing the costs of safety measures against human lives. It also discusses how BP consistently blamed low-level employees for accidents while ignoring systemic issues, and how new leadership may struggle to change the insular culture.

1. Drowning In Oil
BP and the Reckless
Pursuit of Profit
by Loren C. Steffy

2. Deepwater Horizon
April 20, 2010
The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico is the most devastating in a
long line of British Petroleum accidents
that have resulted in death, injuries,
lost livelihoods, and destruction.
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

4. A Single Rare Incident?
The Deepwater Horizon disaster was
only part of a larger pattern of cost-cutting,
image-making, and winner-take-all
corporate culture that compromised safety
across BP’s operations for years.
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

5. In 2005, government inspectors found only
one safety violation at Exxon’s refineries –
at BP, they found more than 700.
It now led the U.S. in refinery deaths.

6. Dollars and Sense
• BP internal communications presents a chilling
analysis viewing the cost of safety measures
vs. the cost of human lives.
• An internal email outlined disaster scenarios
like the houses built in the “Three Little Pigs.”
• BP refused to modernize pipe systems which
led to corrosion and leaks along with delaying
maintenance of known defective alarms.
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

7. BP was consistently fined for breaching
health and safety regulations, resulting
in millions of dollars.
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

9. Critical tests may have prevented the
explosion on the Deepwater Horizon.
The tests would have cost about $100,000.
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

10. Who’s to Blame?
BP consistently blamed low-level
personnel for failures that led to accidents
in an attempt to exonerate responsibility.
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

11. “Errant employees aren’t the root cause of an
accident but rather a symptom of the cause.”
- The Center for Chemical Process Safety
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

12. Former BP CEO John Browne, “the Sun King”
instituted top-down demands to cut costs and
a stifling environment of intimidation.
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

13. Tony Hayward extended Browne’s agenda to
become one of the most hated men in the U.S.
Can new CEO Bob Dudley really change BP’s
culture as his management team is drawn from
the insular ranks of longtime BP employees?
Drowning in Oil by Loren C. Steffy

14. Drowning in Oil is the first in-depth
examination of how a lack of corporate
responsibility and government oversight led
to the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
*Quotes and facts in this presentation are the expressed views of Drowning in Oil by Loren Steffy and do not necessarily reflect
the views or policies of FSB Associates. Copyright ©2011

15. Watch the book trailer
Join the community on
Purchase the book
Published by: McGraw-Hill

16. Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit
by Loren C. Steffy
Loren C. Steffy is the business columnist
for the Houston Chronicle. He has been
recognized by the Society of American
Business Editors and Writers, the
Associated Press Managing Editors, the
Houston Press Club, and other societies
and organizations. In addition, his work
has been cited in publications, including
the New York Times, the Washington Post
Online, and Texas Monthly, and he's made
numerous appearances on CNBC, FOX
News, MSNBC, The NewsHour with Jim
Lehrer, and Court TV. He lives in The
Woodlands, Texas.

17. This presentation was created by:
www.FSBAssociates.com
|