A Health, Safety & Wellness Audit of British Petroleum

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion2

Health Appraisal2

Safety Appraisal3

Wellness Appraisal3

Conclusion4

References5

A Health, Safety & Wellness Audit of British Petroleum

Introduction

British Petroleum (BP) was established by an affluent British-Australian mining mogul, William Knox D'Arcy in 1901, who then had recently acquired rights for oil exploration in south-west Persia ( now modern day Iran). After remarkable patience of exploring in the harsh terrain of Persia, the crew struck oil after seven years of unwavering dedication, thus the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later British Petroleum, emerged. Soon after the World War I had begun, the demand for oil escalated boundlessly and soon the British government became the company's biggest client, since then the company started incurring huge profits. After witnessing two world wars and almost losing its most profitable refinery to an Iranian communism regime in 1950's, the present day British Petroleum has faced many difficulties in its journey but had always taken pride in its endeavors to be environmentally friendly. However, in recent years, BP's name has been synonymous with various controversies including many major oil spills and other accidents at its work fields, for example; the 2005 explosion in its Texas refinery, oil spill in 2006 in Alaska that spilled over 250,000 gallons of oil, and the most recent oil spill in the of Gulf of Mexico in 2010, counts as the most worst catastrophe in the company's history (Tharoor, 2010).

This raises pertinent questions associated with the health and safety procedures followed by BP, and the aim of this paper is to analyze the ways British Petroleum could improve these procedures.

Discussion

In its nature the Oil refining is a volatile industry that is susceptible to hazardous accidents, thus, this section will review problems associated with the health, safety and wellness measures by BP.

Health Appraisal

Earlier this year British Petroleum (2012) updated its code of conduct, introducing new set of standards in its manual. This code of conduct addresses BP's stance on its Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) objectives by specifically mentioning that these entail no harm and damage to the people and the environment.

In the last seven years alone, BP has faced cataclysmic accidents which have not only ruined its own reputation but has severely caused damage to people and the environment. This refers to the tragic incidents referred in the previous section, Allars (2007) in a review of a report by US Chemical Safety Board (CBS) states that repeated warnings ...