Valdez event

Ever since the inception of the petroleum industry the level of fires, explosions and environmental pollution that have precipitated from it, has generally paralleled its growth. As the industry has grown so has the magnitude of its accidental events. Relatively recent events such as the Flixborough incident (1974), Occidental s Piper Alpha disaster (1988), and Exxon s Valdez oil spill (1989) have all amply demonstrated the extreme financial impact these accidents can produce. 

Senior managers are concerned primarily with long-term issues. With respect to risk, they are particularly sensitive to the potential for major environmental and safety events such as the Exxon Valdez spill, the refinery explosion at Texas City, or the Deepwater Horizon/Macondo catastrophe. 

Over the past 30 years, a number of incidents have occurred that have quietly changed the chemical processing industry forever. Incidents such as those in Bhopal, Alaska (the Exxon Valdez o spill), and Texas City (involving BP) have made us aware of the potential for catastrophic events... 

Table 2.8 lists the elements of culture as defined in Chapter 1. Those elements that are particularly pertinent to the Exxon Valdez event are italiciized. 

The Blackbeard incident shows how a company culture can change. In the case of the Exxon Valdez, the event led to management instituting a safety culture that is among the best in industry. 

Exxon Valdez Had the ship s instrumentation been working as called for, it is likely that this event would not have occurred. This failure may not have been a regulatory matter per se, but it showed an overall disregard for following the rules. 

---