Technical problems aside, many experts argued that
BP’s problems were systemic, because management had
repeatedly failed to put an adequate safety culture in
place. In 2005, for example, BP experienced a catastrophic
accident at a Texas oil refinery, which killed 15 workers. A
year later, a leaking BP pipeline caused the largest oil spill
ever on Alaska’s North Slope. BP’s strategic focus on cost
reductions, initiated a few years earlier, may have significantly
compromised safety across the board.