Safety Failed - what a mess

in the Gulf!



CLAMP FAILURE IS BLAMED IN RIG DISASTER



As oil began to wash ashore following last week's rig disaster, investigators blamed the explosion and resultant slick on the failure of a key safety device. A 2-foot-long metal clamp known as a shear ram should have slashed through the pipeline and cut off the flow of oil as pressure built up -- but research suggests that shear rams fail to operate correctly up to 50% of the time. "The shear ram is the last resort when something like this happens," says one well-safety expert. "If it had done its job, then they probably wouldn't have lost all those people and the rig." <a href="http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vHbQdojnmkBfaDBoamaKyAalpnVZ?format=standard">[u][color=#0000ff]The Washington Post/The Associated Press[/color][/u]</a><span style="color:#666666"> (4/30) </span>, <a href="http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vHbQdojnmkBfaEcsamaKyAalsyBp?format=standard">[u][color=#0000ff]Bloomberg[/color][/u]</a><span style="color:#666666"> (4/30) </span><img src="http://www.smartbrief.com/images/briefs2/common/sm_share.gif" width="34" height="14" alt="Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet." /><img src="http://www.smartbrief.com/images/shim.gif" width="4" height="4" alt="Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet." /><a href="http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vHbQdojnmkBfaKkIamaKyAaldhnJ"><img src="http://www.smartbrief.com/images/briefs2/common/linkedin.gif" width="14" height="14" alt="Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.

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