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Deepwater Horizon safety alerts were bypassed to avoid false alarms, witness says.

Published: Friday, July 23, 2010, 9:09 PM
Updated: Friday, July 23, 2010, 9:30 PM

David Hammer, The Times-Picayune


The Deepwater Horizon had a general alarm to warn of dangerous gas leaks on the rig and automated emergency shutdown systems to keep gas out of the engine room and to prevent it from igniting on working electronics.

But rig leaders had decided to bypass those key safety functions before the disastrous explosions April 20, according to staggering testimony from the rig's chief electronics technician Friday.


Share The technician, Mike Williams, an employee of rig owner Transocean, said he didn't like the practice of "inhibiting" critical warning and safety systems. But higher-ups insisted on it for such reasons as not wanting to be awakened in the middle of the night.

The decision appears to have been a game-changer for the 11 men who were killed in the accident, especially those working on the drill floor at the time. When methane gas shot onto the rig a little before 10 p.m., the bypassed alarm meant the men on the drill floor had no audio or visual warning to help them escape; a bypassed control panel shutdown meant gas likely had an ignition source in the airtight drilling shack; and the lack of an emergency shutdown system left engines free to suck in more gaseous air, causing them to overspeed, explode and spread the fire.

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http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/deepwater_horizon_safety_alert.html