[BITList] BP valued speed over safety

[HUGH]

Colin,

I don't understand "corporate culture" in the sense implied by the article.  Orders about how to do jobs don't percolate down from the top.  If the BP disaster was caused by mistakes on the spot, the decisions were made on the spot by the people on the spot.  I know they didn't, but quoting company culture as an excuse would sound hollow in a witness box, or in the dock.  A small group doing similar technical jobs in, say, an office, might have an inherited "culture" of sorts, but it will represent the prejudices of the immediate boss, or the recollections of the oldest inhabitant, and more senior staff will play no part in it.  The office idiots will toe the line and believe the mantra, "that's how we do it here" - I've heard it many a time myself - but I always made it clear I had my own way of doing things, and that was what they got, since I would be the one in court with a lawyer if it came to that, a fact many didn't realise, though I told them often.

Hugh.

PS  I'm giving some thought to the EU.
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