[QUOTE=tengineer;34362]True you don’t maximize profits by increasing risks but you do maximize profits by not spending any more money or time than absolutely needed to get a job done. When you get away with taking shortcuts a few times with no adverse consequences you get complacent and wonder why the rule or regulation was put in place in the first place. It’s kinda like easing thru that stop sign on your way home without coming to a complete stop. You do it for years and then one day some fool comes down the street at 100 mph and kills you because you didn’t stop like the sign said. This is why traffic cops give tickets for not coming to a complete stop, to protect people from themselves and other morons. Trouble is the police in the offshore drilling industry have long been considered an inconvenience that could be taken care of with a phone call to the right people. Couple that with pressure from the CEO all the way down to the drilling supervisor to get things done quickly and cheaply PLUS pay a large bonus for doing so and you have a formula for disaster. Not too many people have the courage to risk a high paying job by saying NO, neither do executives want to lower the quarterly stock performance by spending money or having delays, serious bonus money is involved. When thinking short term the average high bonus earning person will often think that IF they can get away with a few shortcuts for a few years they’ll be set and then it’ll be someone else’s problem. We’ve all been in offices, rigs or ships after that sort of person has moved on up the ladder [or out the door].
It was just a matter of time until hubris, greed and corruption came to their inevitable conclusion.[/QUOTE]
Well, that’s one possible scenario. Do you have any evidence that such is, in fact, what happened? And if this is such a recipe for disaster, why is the industry’s overall safety record good?
All you’ve provided is speculation – please give us some facts to back it up.