Posted By Ian Waldram
The internal (Mogford) investigation is available on BP website, which is where I get most of my information.
Yes, the people did need to be round about there, they were carrying out a major shutdown on the adjacent unit. However, in retrospect, they didn't need to have their meeting room so close to their workplace - it was convenient, but not vital, if it increased risk significantly. The cause was that no one involved recognised there WAS a significant risk, the area near the flare just seems like a nice open space in which to put temporary cabins! (Though afterwards they couldn't find anyone who had actually signed the paperwork which was supposed to be in place before temporary cabins were put anywhere).
Yes, BP were fined for violations, but if you read the detailed wording, there's nothing about locating cabins in violation of ... And you'll also see how some of the minor fines were for items that were not directly linked to the fatalities - which is why those fines were quite low. The point I was trying to make is that, for some in US at least, there's so much detailed law for which you can be fined if you get it wrong, whether or not any injury or illness results, that they can easily concentrate on all those details, and miss the big picture - and I believe that applies to OSHA as much as it does to duty holders.
We may think there's lots of detail in UK legislation, but in fact you tend not to get fined for having something in the wrong format, or to a slightly wrong dimension - whereas these were much more common pre-1974 when UK legislation was pretty similar.
I've not worked in US myself, but have talked to several with personal experience, including some in BP. I'm happy to be corrected by others who know better, if I've got any details wrong in this or my previous postings.