The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - PDF

Individual Reflective
Evaluation

Table of Contents
Individual Reflective Evaluation.....................................................................................................1
Things that gone well..................................................................................................................1
Contribution ..............................................................................................................................2
Lesson Learned...........................................................................................................................2
Comments..................................................................................................................................4

Individual Reflective Evaluation
Considering the above discussion, I have been observed that organisations need to adhere
to safety laws while rendering their services along with this they need to ensure that they have
policies formulated by themselves so that safety and security is not compromised. It took time to
analyse different aspects associated with Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the role organisations,
BP, Halliburton and Transocean has created. It was found that there were certain aspects which
lead to this tragedy. The Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted within senseless deaths as well
as immense environmental damage.
As per my observations, I have found that Deepwater Horizon oil spill was one of the
largest offshore oil spill which has been occurred in history of America and it was initiated on
20th April, 2010. In mile-deep water, a BP operated well blow out which lead to cause Deepwater
Horizon drill rig to explode and unleash a geyser of raw crude oil as well as gas which outburst
into water for 87 days. This led to hundred millions of gallon of oil into Gulf of Mexico which
led to creation of one of the worst man-made environmental calamities on record. As per those
facts I have observed that in Deepwater Horizon around 11 workers died and 17 were injured
seriously. Thousands of whales and dolphins were exposed to oil which caused their death. From
around 93 species, near about 100,000 birds died. Centuries-old deep sea corals were smothered
by oil. This oil caused heavy impact on Gulf's sea turtles around 7600 large sea turtles and
approximately 1,60,000 baby ones. Along with this, there was a decline of about 7% endangered
sperm whales that will take nearby 21 years to recover. Near about, Bryde's whale were affected
by this spill which resulted in around 22% population loss this denotes that, it will take around
69 years for recovering them.
Things that gone well
From this, I have gained the exact statistics associated with Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
along with the details associated with project like individuals whose fault was it. I have acquired
knowledge with respect to be an effectual part within a group and also learn different aspects
associated with project on the basis of their perceptions. Things went well as they were being
planned but it lead us to acknowledge wider aspects associated with projects. The well was
present around 5000 feet below the surface of water at vast frontier of deep sea which is a dark
environment that is marked by constant cold temperatures like extremely high pressures and
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freezing. As per my study, scientists have divided ocean into minimum three zones and deep
oceans have accounted to around three quarters of total ocean volume. Immediately after the
explosion, workers from BP and Transocean (owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig), and many
other government agencies tried to control the spread of oil to beaches and other coastal
ecosystems using floating booms to contain surface oil and chemical oil dispersants to break it
down underwater. During the spill a 22-mile long oil plume was formed. This plume formed
because chemical dispersants released into the water to break up the oil so it could wash away,
this allowed oil to mix with seawater and stay suspended below the surface. And some oil sunk
to the seafloor by gluing together falling particles in the water such as bacteria and
phytoplankton to form marine snow. As much as 20 percent of the spilled oil may have ended up
on top of and in the seafloor, damaging deep sea corals and potentially damaging other
ecosystems that are unseen at the surface. Through communication as well as team work we
gathered the information associated with project and found that all these three organisations were
responsible for causing this disaster. They did not took into consideration small aspects
associated with the project.
Contribution
By carrying out complete analysis, I have given all the crucial details that were collected
by me to the group. I found that, three organisations Halliburton, Transocean and BP were
responsible for this. They started finding out mistakes of one other rather than identifying
solution for handling it. Each have their own individual role, it was not due to mistake of a single
organisation or a small event but it occurred due to different reasons that multiple problems were
there that combined together to be a huge explosion which created impact for around 87 days.
The frequency of this can be depicted by this data. I have found that till present date oil is
affecting salt marshes present within Gulf Coast and their key role is that marsh grasses plays
crucial role within recovery of essential coastal wetlands. Through this information other team
members started to look after internal details of associated organisation and what was there
contribution within this catastrophe. This assisted us to have all the crucial details associated
with project and look after what went wrong.
Lesson Learned
I have learnt that personal safety is not only about physical safety but it is also about
psychological safety that comprises of freedom from physical safety as well as from harassment,
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aggression and hostility. BP oil must had executed safe working systems in their work space and
must have ensured that training must be provided to employees so that they are aware about what
they have to do in case of occurrence of any kind of accident. Along with this, to carry out long-
term safety of employees management of BP oil formulate strategies for long term safety of
employees by usage of risk management policy. It would have helped them to identity safety
risks to their employees and must have developed management plan for minimising them. Along
with this, they the team has also designed blowout preventer, a valve which again failed and was
not working as it was. On the other hand, with respect to personal safety onboard detection
system was installed that must sounded alarm and ventilation fans must also be closed so that
potential causes of ignition might not have been reached. This also failed. The reason for
installation was to ensure the safety of crew members while they are on board and in case of any
kind of emergency the alarm must have been produced by which crew can get aware and take
effective precautions with respect to that. But nothing happened.
I have observed that physical barriers acts as basic method of clean up that deals with
control of spreading oil. When oil is spilled within water, then it floats on surface ans it is spread
out which forms a thin slick that a few millimetres thick (Thin slick is called a sheen, which
often looks like a rainbow and can be seen in parking lots after a rainstorm). Cleanup workers
first surround the slick with floating booms to keep it from spreading to harbors, beaches or
biologically important areas like marshes. Then they can use different tools to remove the
collected oil. Often they will drive skimmers, boats that skim spilled water from the water's
surface, through the slick. It was also found that if any of the people on shore might have
consulted with shore based engineer then blowout might have never occurred. Major cause was
misreading and misinterpretation of pressure test along with decision for moving ahead with
temporary abandonment of BP’s Maconda well was a major catalyst which led to explosion that
eventually led to unleashed millions of barrels of oil to Gulf of Mexico. The fact is that this was
completely preventable disaster but due to carelessness of different organisations it took place.
This disaster was found to have a massive impact upon various parts of the economy of
respective country. In this regards, one of the largest effects of this oil spill was witnessed on
beaches where oil from this massive disaster caused an impact upon 622-1300 miles of US
coastline across the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill had massively catalysed the land erosion
resulting into deaths of large quantum of flora. As per a study of 2012, the quantum of organisms
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had massively declined as an impact of the disaster. Further, this oil and gas disaster even largely
affected the healthy and clean environment. The clean up oil that took place resulted in large
scale deterioration of environment. As a significant consequence of this disaster, it could be seen
that beach erosion as well as disruption of animals and plants took place at a great magnitude.
Also, the effects of this spill could be witnessed in the form of diversities in vegetation. The spill
had led to oiling reaching on the stem of marsh vegetation. As a consequence of this, it could be
seen that marsh erosion took place at rapid and substantial levels and vegetation death also
occurred simultaneously. Further, as per the study about this topic, I also found out that approx.
79% of the total oil spilled stayed within the Gulf Of Mexico beneath the surface areas. The
research even reflected that damage caused due to the deep horizon oil spill could not be
resolved within a significant time period of 3 years and resulted into deaths of dolphins, corals
and fishes even after such a long tenure. Also, it was noted that some of the fishes were showing
lesions which indicate the massive destruction and damage that was caused to environment,
ecology, society and other aspects. This knowledge will help us in future and make sure that if
we were the part of oil industry then it will be our responsibility to look after loopholes that are
present while carrying out any project so that there effects can be prevented.
Comments
If in future I get into this segment then these things must be kept in mind so that such
kind of mishap do not take place again. In addition to this, all organisations who are responsible
for such kind of projects must be extra careful as it may lead worst impact on environment,
human beings and water bodies. It could be comprehended by me that all of this took place due
to the carelessness of staff and management of BP Oil. This was because the company was
careless and lacked due care in carefully maintaining safety measures and keeping the mitigation
options in case of significant disaster taking place. All of this massive disaster occurred owing to
the lack of adequate quantum of cement between the 9 7/8 protection casing as well as the 7
inches production casing. This could be avoided by the management of the respective
organisation by taking due care of the equipments and safety measures across the premises of
entity.
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