Who is to blame when you follow the rules and something goes wrong?
By bobmnu
@bobmnu (8157)
United States
June 14, 2010 11:32am CST
What happens is you follow the rules and get injured who should pay? Lets say you are walking down the street and the wind is blowing. A speck of sand is blown into your eye and scratches you eyeball. Who should pay for your treatment? What if there was a building being constructed and they have a small pile of sand used in the mixing of cement. The company has followed the rules as to covering the sand when not mixing it with the cement, they have a wall constructed to protect people passing by from the debris. Now who is to blame for the sand in your eye and your injury?
Looking at the BP oil spill. It appears that BP had approval for drilling and the procedures they were using were approved by the government and any deviation from the rules were approved by the government officials. If this is true then who is responsible for the oil spill?
3 people like this
10 responses
@laglen (19759)
• United States
14 Jun 10
Good discussion Bob. It is called an accident. But this administration LOVES the blame game. So now, people are boycotting BP, great now how pray tell are they supposed to pay out all of these claims? I know, I know, they are paying shareholders, but that is called business. These people whining clearly do not have stock in BP. For crying out loud, there have been no judgments. Also, if they are not paying out, stock goes down (I know it is already) with the stock going down, how pray tell will they pay?
I have this crazy crazy crazy idea......
how about, we stop that dam blame game, clean up the mess, the worry about who is paying what.
I know..... crazy
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
14 Jun 10
There are many people who are coming up with suggestions on how to clean up the spill but they are being blocked by rules and regulations. One suggestion was to use special ships that skim the oil and water and deliver it to a refinery to be separated. The ship is a foreign ship and can not operate in US waters because of a law. Congress or the President can suspend the law for a time but haven't. This is just one example. it seems to me that BP has tries several different things and some work and others do not work. The government has not come up with a single suggestions to solve the problem.
1 person likes this
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
14 Jun 10
There are so many people here who are at least partially to blame that is not funny.
Most visable of course is BP - they were the ones leasing and profiting from the well. They were also the first up to take action (even if their actions failed; they have been trying repeatedly to stop this leak).
Then, there is the crew that was working the well. They were there to maintain and monitor it. Did they get lazy or sloppy?
Then, the well and the equipment belonged to a separate company that BP waw leasing it from. Was it properly installed and maintained? Were corners cut and substandard safety equipment used? After all, the automatic cutoff that was supposed to shut the well down FAILED.
Our government gave approval to drill a well more than a MILE under the surface of the water and set the guidelines for construction and safety - did they ever actually inspect this well to make sure it was constructed properly and then maintained (or, did they just look at paperwork which can easily be falsified)?
What they need to do right now is work together to:
a) Stop the leak
b) Clean up the environment
c) Inspect every other deep sea oil well to make sure they aren't going to repeat this disaster
d) Once they know what it takes to stop a problem of this magnitude, make sure that EVERY company engaged in deep water drilling has on hand the necessary items in sufficient quantities to stop any future problems within HOURS of the initial accident.
After all of that is done; then, they can go back and let the courts decide who's fault it is.
@wendie2781 (108)
•
14 Jun 10
that's one of the best appraisals of the situation i've come across hun! totally on the nail! well said! x
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
15 Jun 10
The 0bama administration is responsible for this disaster.
While 0bama may try to blame others ranging from Bush to BP, in this case the responsibility is his.
He and his administration granted the waivers that allowed BP to operate, and as a result this "accident" occurred. The fact that it occurred just shortly after 0bama came out in favor of offshore drilling had nothing to do with the event... RIIIIGHT
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
27 Jun 10
Bob, the BP case is different because BP and many other oil companies had their hand in writing the government regulations that were used. Not only that, but BP did "modify" parts of this well that may or may not have met specs to be approved. The biggest problem in this case was that regulators and industry lobbyist worked together to write many regulations of these wells. Many of the oil companies that operate wells told congress they would NEVER follow the procedures that BP did. To answer your question BP should pay because they have responsibility for their own actions, and the supreme court agrees. Just like the person walking down the street should be responsible because the construction company can't control the wind.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
8 Aug 10
Who is to blame for allowing them to have a hand in the writing of the Regs.? If you don't have them help write the regs. you end up with laws like the one in Iowa several years ago to prevent train accidents. It went something like this. When two trains approach the same track or intersection neither can go until the other has passed. If this rule is followed you will have no more train accidents or trains moving.
You know that any company that is call before congress is going to protect themselves and say they would not do it the way BP did it. It would be like asking a truck driver, after a serious truck accident involving another trucking company, if they ever violated the rules. They would say they follow the company policies and government regulations. Who is going to tell congress that they take short cuts and try to bend the regulations.
What responsibility does the Government have for stopping the burning of the oil (Government policy), approving of the use of chemicals to disperse the oil then blaming BP for using them, require them to use skimmers but then not letting the skimmers work until they had a safety inspection which took days. There were too many different department each looking at their own little world and not looking at the big picture. Should BP take the blame for a government bureaucracy that is too big and out of control. They don't look at the impact their rules have on the whole country or the the other parts of the government. It is like the story of the old man, the boy and the donkey. Everyone else is telling them what to do and in the end the old man loses his donkey and the old man, the boy are forced to both walk, and they are the ones to blame for the loss of the donkey, while everyone who told them what to do is held blameless.
@LetranKnight25 (33121)
• Philippines
14 Jun 10
Hello Bob,
It doesn't matter who gets the blame, the problem is there. my suggestion there is, don't fix the blame, just fix the problem.i hope BP and who ever part of this project should learn they're lesson and not to repeat the terrible mistake. seriously, people lost a lot of livelihood and not to mention animals and birds being soaked with oil.
I, for one, didn't like the idea of Drilling holes in the sea, simply for getting OIL when risk like these could occur.if the government approve the drilling then they should also be held accountable to it.
@starsailover (7829)
• Mexico
15 Jun 10
Hi Letran Knight: I agree with you, you won't have anything just by looking for who is the person we have to blame. If there's a problem we have to find a solution and all the persons that have participated in the problem (BP and the government in this case) must take part of the solution. We can't live in the past, the future is ours and we have to do something to make things right. Thanks for your answer. Have a nice day.
ALVARO
@wiggles18 (2506)
• Canada
14 Jun 10
I think everyone is to blame. Take into account "the butterfly effect", even little things can make big differences, etc, etc. So we should all stop blaming people. Instead, we should be looking for solutions and helping each other.
@rangerkoji (196)
• United States
15 Jun 10
I think noone can be blamed if you follow the rule and fail. But I feel like the people who made the rules should be blamed. I think it is useless to blame people for thing that is already done.
@starsailover (7829)
• Mexico
15 Jun 10
Hi bobmnu: I would make an answer as a lawyer. In the first example and this also applies to BP, even if your company take all the preventions, you, as the owner of the company will have to pay because you put the community that didn't exist before, because of your activities, so you have to assume the risks of them. Thanks for asking us this question. Have a nice day.
ALVARO
@wendie2781 (108)
•
14 Jun 10
what very good points bobmnu! it is so very awful that such devastation has has happened with the oil 'spill' - seems such an inadequate word here! bp could only have done their work after havin approval from the us govt, and surely any potential problems resultant should have been addressed at the time? bp have caused the problem - no arguement and they need to solve it and set up a fund to recompense the costs to human and animal life affected by it. more importantly, personally, i feel that the bid divi payouts to shareholders all over the world should not be made until the problem is solved as an act of goodwill if nothing else.. priorities! in this sue everybody in sight culture, it's the reality of the event that gets lost amidst all the squabbling! just hope it's all stemmed very soon and not too much of the wildlife falls prey to it! x
@ohiocy (214)
• Malaysia
15 Jun 10
Who is to be blame?? A very famous question that will always run in our mind whenever there is something that went wrong. You know what is the sad part about all this things, after they have happened? It is the fact that many is unable or will not actually acknowledge the existence of accidents. I mean come on, what is accident? Accident is something that is bound to happen no matter what sort of preparation you have made, else it won't be called accident rather it would be known as an act with purpose.
And the funny thing is, after denying the fact of accidents do occur, someone has to be 'blamed'. The word is BLAME and not even find out who is the one truly at fault. What a sad world indeed..
