In a presentation yesterday, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released preliminary findings from its investigation of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, well blowout on April 20, 2010. Several investigation reports have been issued, including ones from BP and The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)/U.S. Coast Guard Joint Investigation Team. I have discussed some of the findings in previous posts and will address some of these issues in future posts.
In the presentation, the CSB said “BP focused too much on the little details of personal worker safety instead of the big systemic hazards that led to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and wasn’t as strict on overall safety when drilling rigs involved other companies that they hired.” Safety board managing director Daniel Horowitz told the AP that “BP applied lesser process safety standards” to rigs contracted out than it does to its own facilities. “In reality, both [drilling contractor] Transocean and BP dropped the ball on major accident hazards in this case.” The CSB went on to state that BP “did not conduct an effective comprehensive hazard evaluation of the major accident risks for the activities of the Deepwater Horizon rig or for the Macondo well” because the oil company’s large risk evaluation program “looked only at BP assets, not drilling rigs that it contracted” to other firms for operation. Read More
In the sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) “space” there is increasing pressure to report on triple-bottom-line issues through reporting frameworks, such as the 
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It has been a while since I’ve posted. The summer has been full, working on developing the 
Understanding and crafting your supply chain is an integral part of a meaningful sustainability/CSR strategy. The inputs to your products and services play a huge role in defining them in this sustainability/CSR era. For instance, the amount of water used in producing a liter of soda, or the labor practices in harvesting cotton used in making a T-shirt have become significant issues for manufacturers of these products.
Sustainability is on every corporate radar. The strength of the signal and distance from action vary. In some cases, internal task groups have been formed, sustainability risk assessments have been performed, and actions have been incorporated into operations, products, and services. In other cases, none or some of these activities have been started, or actions have not gone beyond PR drivers.