by Bruce Ziebarth

Created on: March 03, 2011

2010 was a horrific year for BP. When their Gulf of Mexico oil rig blew up, it caused a catastrophic oil spill. Over the past months, BP has endured 1000s of articles condemning their safety practices and questioning their business as a whole. President Barack Obama used the event to extort billions from BP and place the money into a government controlled fund. Part of BP's response and future mitigation efforts is to create a new safety unit.

Safety was at the heart of BP's criticism. After the disasterous oil spill headlines ran like, “Leaked Reports Expose BP's Safety Record”, “BP Was Told of Safety Issues on Another Rig”, and “Documents Show Early Worries About Safety of Rig”. Even months after the oil spill, BP is still answering questions about safety issues.

BP's new CEO announced the creation of a new safety unit. BP's incoming in a company announcement, BP stated the new unit will “have authority to intervene in all aspects of BP's technical activities.” This is just one endeavor to repair the company's battered reputation.

Mark Bly will head the new safety unit. Mark Bly led the team that reviewed causes of the 2010 oil rig disaster. Mark Bly's team produced the report that identified causes of the oil well spill. This experience makes him uniquely qualified to head the new Safety Division. The head of BP's new safety unit is not the only unique approach.

Commonly, safety units are made up of safety experts that audit company operations. BP's new safety unit is taking this approach one step further. Safety experts will not just audit all company operations. Safety division employees will actually be embedded into every company division and operation. This embedding will provide a day-to-day oversight by safety employees. This unique approach will aid in identifying safety issues much quicker then audits alone.

"This is a deeply challenging time for BP. The Macondo incident was a tragedy that claimed the lives of 11 people, caused injury to many others and had a widespread environmental impact," Dudley said in a message to BP staff.

Bob Dudley, even before he takes the helm at BP, is setting himself a part from his predecessor. By firing the Vice President over oil rig operations and establishing the safety division, Dudley shows that his reign will not be “business as usual”. Only time will tell if Dudley can turn around BP's waining reputation. However, Dudley seems to be on the right track.

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