BP Texas City Case Notes:
This case emphasizes the importance of health and safety in the workplace. The case
shares insights on several safety failures at BP, and in particular at the Texas City
facility. In addition to discussing safety programs, the case explores the role company
leadership plays in creating a safety culture. The case emphasizes the importance of
all aspects of safety from policies and practices to organizational commitment to
creating a safe work environment. The case also introduces the ethical implications of
safety efforts at an organization.
Questions:
B-22. The text defines ethics as “the principles of conduct governing an individual or a
group,” and specifically as the standards one uses to decide what his or her conduct
should be. To what extent do you believe that what happened at BP is as much a
breakdown in the company’s ethical systems as it is in its safety systems, and how
would you defend your conclusion?
The case explores both the safety systems as well as the management practices that
led to the problems at BP. An effective safety policy starts with top management.
This case does raise concerns of the ethical systems at BP. The principles guiding the
conduct of BP’s top management were focused more on cost cutting than on safety.
While cutting costs is important for a large company, doing so without regard to the
B-23. Are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s standards, policies, and
rules aimed at addressing problems like the ones that apparently existed at the Texas
City plant? If so, how would you explain the fact that problems like these could have
continued for so many years?
OSHA’s standards, policies, and rules are aimed at creating a safe and healthy work
environment. OSHA has worked closely with BP to abate their safety concerns through
inspections and fines for safety violations. However, the problems at BP are complex
B-24. Since there were apparently at least three deaths in the year prior to the major
explosion, and an average of about one employee death per 16 months for the previous
10 years, how would you account for the fact that mandatory OSHA inspections missed
these glaring sources of potential catastrophic events?
There are a variety of challenges that OSHA faces in trying to enforce safety laws in a
large organization such as BP. The primary challenge for OSHA is a limited number of
inspectors available to conduct complete inspections. Often inspections are done in
B-25. The text lists numerous suggestions for “how to prevent accidents.” Based on
what you know about the Texas City explosion, what do you say Texas City tells you
about the most important three steps an employer can take to prevent accidents?
All of the suggestions in the text are important and a student might include any of them.
However, creating a safety culture is clearly a priority as noted in BP’s case. Creating a
supportive environment is also important. A company can have the right equipment and
B-26. Based on what you learned in Chapter 14, would you make any additional
recommendations to BP over and above those recommendations made by the Baker
panel and the CSB? If so, what would those recommendations be?
Students might come up with a variety of ideas. As the suggestions provided by these
panels are thorough, students are likely to come up with more specific ideas. For
example, while the panel suggested involving stakeholders in safety, a more practical
B-27. Explain specifically how strategic human resource management at BP seems to
have supported the company’s broader strategic aims. What does this say about the
advisability of always linking human resource strategy to a company’s strategic aims?
Overall BP has been successful in supporting its strategic aims of cutting costs and
becoming more efficient through streamlining processes and making sites more
efficient. However, this alignment took the focus away off of safety. While it is