Study: Deepwater Horizon workers were afraid to report safety issues - CNN.com

Study: Deepwater Horizon workers were afraid to report safety issues

By Allan Chernoff, CNN

July 22, 2010 7:08 p.m. EDTJuly 22, 2010 7:08 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- A confidential report on safety conditions aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, conducted about one month before the rig's explosion, points to widespread fear of reprisal for reporting employee mistakes that could undermine safety aboard the rig.

"There was a stated fear of reprisal related specifically to the reporting of dropped objects," states an executive summary of the report obtained by CNN.

"Only 46.3 percent of participants felt that, if their actions led to a potentially risky situation (e.g., forgetting to do something, damaging equipment, dropping an object from height), they could report it without any fear of reprisal," the report states. ....

Study: Deepwater Horizon workers were afraid to report safety issues - CNN.com