Ethical Dilemma: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Management Essay (Essay Sample)

Ethical Dilemma: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is dabbed the most catastrophic oil spill in the history of the United States. The disaster happened in April of 2010 when an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and eventually sank two days later. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig was leased and operated by British oil company BP. On the night of the explosion, a gush of natural gas surged through a freshly concreted rig riser causing it to ignite and instigating the death of 11 workers and injury to 17 others (Brown, 2012). In addition to loss of human life, the disaster led to extensive ecological damage when oil started spilling into the sea upon the collapsing of the rig. About 88500 square miles of sea water were contaminated by the spill, leading to a plummeted fishing industry in Louisiana, and to the death of numerous aquatic animals (Brown, 2012). Collectively considering the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it was clear that faults in ethical decision-making may have fueled the incident. The ethical dilemma surrounding this disaster arose from the decision making process at BP. Should BP rig officers have risked getting fired if they reported possible safety flaws to senior management for the sake of ensuring maximum rig safety? Conversely, were they justified to ignore safety checks on the rig which eventually led to loss of life and ecological damage?