Many companies understand that good management requires senior managers to spend
time with front line workers onsite - the challenge is to make productive use of these onsite visits. Safety is often a focus for visiting VIPs, but too often safety is understood to be a matter of “slips, trips and falls”,
rather than the major hazards that can blow the plant or the rig apart.
This paper will examine a VIP visit made to the Deepwater Horizon rig by senior managers from BP and
from the rig owner, Transocean, just hours before the explosion. It will argue that, despite their best of intentions, these managers fell into the trap identified above. The paper also looks at things that senior managers can do to focus attention on the most significant hazards.