Has doug herd about this incedent yet?

This sounds like a great proving ground for the Knive Rights.

HR doesn't need a knife where they work, why do you?

I dunno. I pretty much carried at least one, if not two, knives when I was in the Army, every day. And that was in the rear. I carried a leatherman and a SAK in a holder on my belt. No one ever questioned it, most people had a knife on their belt anyhow. And companies are worried about potentially violent people carrying knives? I know for a fact the Homeless Depot want you to carry a company issued box knife, that almost could cut someone if you weren't careful with it, a full 1/32 of the tip of the blade is exposed - to cut tape I guess.

Stupid companies let stupider people make rules so they can point to having done something on their annual performance review.

Hmmmm....

The life raft would have had TWO knives on it. One in the equipment bag, and one in a sheath attached on the upper tube of the life raft adjacent to the sea painter connection. That knife is a floatable knife and is attached by a lanyard to the sheath. It's almost impossible to leave the knive off the raft when you repack it, because they are attached to the raft.

I wonder if in the panic of boarding the life raft and trying to get away from the fire, the occupants didn't notice it. They don't look like ordinary knives since they have a blunt-tip, somewhat hooked blade.

I'm not arguing that people shouldn't be allowed to carry knives on the rig, but something sounds off in this story.

Tom A.

Tom:

could BP have removed them as part of there "no knife" pollicy? or could someone have removed them when they needed a knife and then not returned it.

I am in total agreement that there seems to be something intresting there. It will be intresting to see what comes of this

Wasn't this fellow in the video clip the Deepwater Horizon's chief electronics technician (a Transocean employee not a BP employee). If I recall correctly wasn't the loss of the Deepwater Horizon Drilling Platform basically due to the failure of the BOP, which was the result of an electronics failure due to a dead battery.

Perhaps it might be worthwhile asking the question of why the workers on the Deep Water Horizon were unaware of the correct lifeboat evacuation procedure rather than trying to blame the Companies no blade weapons policy. This story seems to be more a failure of the correct escape procedure training rather than a corporate knife policy.



The Deep Water Horizon was a Transocean rig and not owned or run by BP.

With most of these types of accidents there is usually a cascade of failures of technical machinery and human incompetence (failed to understand what the design limits of the machinery are) and I suspect the failure of certain individuals to stand up and be counted for not breaching safety standards under the pressure of the management (who in many circumstances don't know what they are doing and don't respect the opinions of less well paid by much more experienced personnel) culture of specified targets which are set by the top of the organisation without regard of the safety standards within the industry. Incompetence from top and a cowardice from the bottom makes for bad situation, the usual story of profit over risk.

Given that the article includes this in reference to the missing knife in the lifeboat kit I think people are grasping at straws to push their political cause. In effect reverse engineering a controversy where it may, or may not, exist.



If and when the facts become clear you may use it to push your cause. Until then it looks like cheap political opportunism. Using this before the facts are known compromises the credibility of the larger argument.

It would also be handy to have a hard copy of Transocean policies and procedures and better define where any policy originated an dhow it was enforced before making wild claims.

The life raft was probably packed in a hard shell container. You just don't go into those to borrow something. You would have to break the retaining straps. Packing the raft without the required equipment would have been a violation of USCG regs and the life raft packing facility would have been negligent. But since the knives are tethered to the actual raft, it's improbable that a packing facility would forget to pack it.

I think it is more of an issue of the panic of the moment and/or improper training of the crew. The knife/knives was probably there, they just didn't recognize it or know where to look for it. But generally they are in a very conspicuous place by design.

Tom A.

I would agree that a knife almost certainly was attached to the life raft, but in the panic of an emergency was likely not recognised or located in time.
Does anyone know what sort of knife was/should have been provided ?
The ones that I have seen dont look much like any common type of pocket knife or kitchen tool.
They consisted of a lightweight stainless steel blade with a rounded end, moulded into an orange handle with a lanyard attached.When stored, the blade was covered with a sheath in similar orange plastic, this being a fairly tight fit so as to be waterproof in storeage.
Those unfamiliar with the equipment would see an orange plastic cylinder, and might consider it to be some type of float or signalling device, not a knife.
These were sold in a yacht chandlers, dont know if those in life rafts on oil rigs are similar or not.

True they don't look like your average knife but normally there is a big placard next to it showing a person severing the sea painter with it.

I see it largely as a failure of adequate training for the crew.

Regards,

Tom A.