Oil industry had become complacent

Tony Hayward soon to be ex-ceo of BP sat before British parliament today, and was quizzed on the companies past safety record relating the Gulf spill to events such as a an explosion in a Texas refinery that killed 15 people in 2005. He claims that the oil industry had become complacent in their practices and procedures due to a 20 year period without a major incident. He also claims that no once company could have been prepared to deal with a 5,000 foot deep underwater explosion. The fact that companies were willing to bear such risk in order to gain high profit is understandable, but the mere fact that the entire industry was complacent for that period of time astounds me. I hope that other companies in the energy field will look at this ethical issue of profit vs risk and learn from Bp's mistakes. It is now a real danger that other disasters of this scale could occur and all companies should have the resources set aside.
-Jaisukh Samaha


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