Should BP CEO Tony Hayward Go to Prison?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6254/should_bp_ceo_tony_hayward_go_to_prison/

Thursday July 22 2:45 pm

By Lewis Maltby


BP CEO Tony Hayward appears at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. in June. Hayward promised lawmakers he would 'take action' against any of his employees found to have put costs over safety ahead of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (Photo by CHRIS KLEPONIS/AFP/Getty Images)


In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, many have called for BP CEO Tony Hayward and other top executives of the London-based energy giant to go to prison. Most of this is just anger, but the idea deserves consideration. Indeed, in May the U.S. Department of Justice opened criminal and civil investigations into what caused the spill. “We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who has violated the law,” Attorney General Eric Holder said June 1.

But the fact that 11 workers died in the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion doesn’t automatically mean than Hayward or other BP executives should go to jail. Sometimes workers are hurt even when management is careful—and even if they're not, negligence isn’t enough for a criminal conviction in U.S. courts.

I say this from personal experience. When I worked as a business executive, a worker lost three fingers on a power saw and almost bled to death, despite the fact we had hand guards on every machine and no one was allowed to use them unless they were properly trained. So how did it happen?

But Trevor came in on Saturday without telling his boss and tried to use the saw, on which he hadn’t been trained. He took the guard off, and his hand slipped. We deserved having to pay for Trevor’s medical expenses, lost income while he was out of work, and the decrease in his future earnings. We deserved every penny the Occupational Safety and Heath Administration (OSHA) fined us. In fact, OSHA should have increased the fine.

But I shouldn’t have gone to prison because I didn’t anticipate this series of events. Fortunately for me, U.S. law doesn’t provide prison terms for negligent managers and executives. It’s not enough that an accident could have been prevented, and management wasn’t as careful as a reasonable person would have been. For managers to go to jail, they must have been “recklessly indifferent” to danger. They must know that a situation exists that will probably cause harm, and do nothing.

FULL story at link.

[madinmaryland]

1. I'm a little confused about your story, Steve...

"But Trevor came in on Saturday without telling his boss and tried to use the saw, on which he hadn’t been trained. He took the guard off, and his hand slipped. We deserved having to pay for Trevor’s medical expenses, lost income while he was out of work, and the decrease in his future earnings. We deserved every penny the Occupational Safety and Heath Administration (OSHA) fined us. In fact, OSHA should have increased the fine."

Are you implying that the employees on the Deep Horizon were negligent as apparently Trevor was?? There was negligence on the Deep Horizon, but it was a top down management decision, while Trevor made a stupid mistake, unless of course, his managers were not giving him the proper training and were actually requesting him go ahead and use the saw without training him on it.

I am glad that you and your firm supported him financially after his accident.

[Omaha Steve]

3. I only posted it

I could never write something that good. I am no writer.

[metapunditedgy]

2. "Most of this is just anger," LOL. Is this an editorial from The Onion? n/t