In the weeks leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion, worker safety standards for offshore oil rigs were voluntary and developed in consultation with the oil industry but not safety experts, a senior Interior official told Congress Wednesday.
The Minerals Management Service is working to make the voluntary guidelines mandatory, said the agency’s acting chief Doug Slitor.
Rep. George Miller (D-Ca.), chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, said it was stunning that there were no safety rules in place. He urged Slitor to postpone the release of the new guidelines until receiving input from Occupational Health and Safety Administration officials, in order to “balance out” the oil industry’s advice.
Lawmakers have been investigating safety on offshore oil rigs in the wake of the April explosion that killed 11 workers and injured 17 others on the Deepwater Horizon platform.
MMS says it never found BP, the company that operates the Deepwater Horizon, to be in violation of safety guidelines, though organizations like the Sierra Club have sued the government agency claiming poor oversight.
OSHA’s jurisdiction over worker safety stops 3 miles offshore.
OSHA chief David Michaels said he opposed expanding OSHA jurisdiction to cover offshore rigs, since his agency’s resources are already stretched thin, The New York Times reports.
