Board: BP missed the important safety issues
Safety board: BP focus on worker safety caused it, others to miss big hazard picture in spill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A government safety panel says BP focused too much on the little details of personal worker safety instead of big systemic hazards that led to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board also says in a presentation to be made in a hearing in Houston Tuesday that the oil giant wasn't as strict on overall safety when drilling rigs involved other companies that they hired.
Eleven workers were killed in the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and about 200 million gallons of oil flowed into the Gulf from the blown-out Macondo well.
BP had the lease on the well, but the rig was owned and operated by another company. Investigators say that contractor-owner split made a difference in major accident prevention.
