The Deep Water Horizon Disaster
Introduction
The Deep Water Horizon is one of the most compelling disasters that had ever been recorded in the US in so far as oil spills and fire tragedies are concerned. The explosion had far-reaching implications because the spills negatively condemned the immediate environment and effectively rendered most of the people not employed because of the manifestations of the disaster. The spill majorly affected the ocean to the extent that the aqua system was put in jeopardy because of the oil infiltration. This team comprises of Dustin, Adrienne, Daniel and Mohammed seeks to analyze the problem and its implications not just for the people but also to the environment.
Ethical Issues
The oil spill in any jurisdiction can have far-reaching implication on the wellbeing of the environment. Without delving into the cause of the oil spill, it is imperative to provide a narrative of the extent to which the disaster affected certain entities within the environmental setup. The oil leaks affected the ocean eco-system in diverse ways. For instance, the oil covered the surface over a wide area. The implication is that limited air could penetrate the water effectively causing the suffocation of the animals. The oil spills also affected the marshes and the shorelines. The scientist has suggested that what can be observed from the face value cannot be judged because the unseen are the most compelling. The dead animals are a serious environmental disaster and such propensities only further the negative effects on the natural environment. Oil spills are broken down into millions of particulars to the extent that they spread through the various layers of the ocean causes disenfranchisement to the natural environment.
The deep-water horizon also affected the humans that depended on the facility for employment. For instance, in the event that an explosion occurs in a company, it takes time for operations to be resumed. The human resource at the company is then compelled to stay on the periphery until normalcy returns and safety issues are enhanced. When people are out of employment, they cannot gain some income and neither can they save or invest. The oil spill affected the livelihoods of people, both in the immediate environment and other regions that directly depended on the facility for gainful employment.
Another area that must have been affected by the deep-water horizon crisis is the revenue collection and subsequent tax claims. Oil companies pay numerous taxes on what they extract and sometimes the government has a specific amount that they compel the firms to pay as a consequence of dealing with contingencies emerging from certain crisis situations. Consequently, the residents in the immediate environment have to be paid tax claims because they do not benefit from the proceeds from the oil. It is imperative to underscore that some of the industries must have been affected by the disaster. For example, when the oil spills are manifest at the beaches and shores, it is impossible for tourists to visit such locations either for refreshing moments.
There are many ethical issues that arose after the explosion and therefore it is crucial to developing an action plan to handle the ethical issues. According to professional ethics, a practitioner is required should act with fidelity to the public’s need at all times. However, various safety considerations were ignored during the operation and construction of Deepwater rig. Consequently, there was an explosion and an oil spill. The omissions that were omitted at Deepwater rig include the lack of environmental impact assessment, lack of a detailed blowout plan and the absence of remote triggers in the BOP (blowout preventer). Further, the modifications that had been introduced on the blowout prevent increased chance of failure, and the engineers were concerned that the metal casings that had been used could collapse in cases of high pressure.
There was a violation of the 7 federal regulations and they included the presence of a single cement barrier; the ignorance of the negative test that had been conducted earlier on; the limits on the control machines and there was inadequate training concerning are cases that were dangerous. Further, there were failures when it came to the observations and response to the critical indicators of the explosions due to lack of a well-controlled response. The emergency response at the bridge was insufficient, so there was no precaution for both the state regulators and the employees. Safety standards were not present at the BP Oil and Gas Group and as such there was no aggressive and timely control to prevent the explosion.
Action Plan
The action plan to solve the ethical issues includes two methods namely virtue ethics, and duty ethics. Virtue ethics focuses on the practitioner’s virtues, and characters and it is a determinant when evaluating whether the practitioner’s behavior is ethical or not. Virtue ethics lays emphasis on the duty to obey rules, so it requires the employees and the practitioners to comply with the rules in a job. Therefore, virtues ethics derives the wrongness and the rightness of an act from its outcomes. Accordingly, all the practitioners at BP Oil and Gas Group should comply with virtues ethics in bid to solve the ethical challenges that arose after the explosion. Virtue ethics will play an instrumental role in protecting the company’s reputation and promoting public confidence in the company.
Duty ethics lay emphasis on the practitioner’s actions instead of the consequences that arise due to the action. Duty ethics requires the employees to choose the right things and to avoid the wrong things, According to duty ethics, actions cannot be justified because of their consequences. Accordingly, all employees and practitioners should comply with duty ethics by following all the standards and requirements in a bid to rectify the ethical failures experienced after the explosion. The duty ethics will minimize the negative repercussions of the explosion on the environment.
The ethical methods of solving the problems will be evaluated using two major methods namely flow charting and line drawing. Flowcharting will analyze the processes of implementing the ethical methods discussed above, and it will do so by breaking down the process into individual activities. The construction of flowcharts will guide the organization into understanding the ethical processes. Line drawing will show the logical relationships between the activities that will be used to implement the ethical methods. Line drawing will improve the organization's understanding of the ethical processes which is a prerequisite for improving the ethics in the organization. Further, line drawing will clarify all the things that will happen during the implementation of the ethical process.
Conclusion
The deep-water horizon had far-reaching effects on the well-being of the society and humans. It negatively affected both the natural settings and the humans around it. Consequently, the disaster must have had a negative effect on the economy in terms of revenue collection and tax claims. Oil firms have the responsibility of properly managing disasters so that they do not affect the people and the eco-system in a negative fashion.
