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It's also been reported that there were established procedures for
capping the exploratory well before moving the rig, and that those
procedures weren't followed. Even if you have the clearest, best-written
instructions in the world, you still need to make sure they're followed.
The company has to invest in writing and validating the instructions, of
course -- but also in training the employees and auditing subsequent
behavior. In my experience, the writing is the easiest part!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Al Geist
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 12:59 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Nobody reviewed the manuals
>
> I'm sure everyone by now has heard about the big oil spill
> going on in the Gulf or Mexico. Associate Press today
> announced that an analysis of BP's contingency plans show
> they were "riddled with omissions and glaring errors." It
> seems that the authors face what most of us in the field
> confront on a daily basis..everyone wants the manuals done by
> some impossible deadline, but nobody has anytime to review
> the material to see if it is relevant, accurate, or complete.
> If those documents are like some I've had to clean up, they
> are virtually useless because they were copied from previous
> documents, which were copies of older documents, which were
> copies... In management's eyes, this is good, economic use of
> resources. In the department heads eyes, it's a checkbox that
> is filled without having to take an engineer or programmer
> off some critical task. In the user's eyes, it means fumbling
> around to figure things out before the system crashes and
> management starts looking over your shoulder. Been fighting
> for better manuals for nearly 40 years and I will guarantee
> that there are more BP-type contingency plans out there. What
> management doesn't realize is that it cost a lot more to
> clean up the mess than it would to produce is relevant,
> accurate, and complete material in the first place. BP knows
> the consequences now..how many other companies (small or
> large) have had their eyes opened?
>
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