Learning from disaster? Processes of contestation in an organizational field in the wake of an extreme event

On April 20, 2010, drilling rig Deepwater Horizon lost control over the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. The well blew out, killing eleven workers and triggering the largest offshore oil spill in worldwide history. In his dissertation, Bruno Verweijen researched how the oil industry learned from this disaster. Zooming in on the North Sea region, he identified that learning involved power struggles. Stakeholders pushed for radical changes, but oil industry actors primarily refined established knowledge and practices. As is common following disasters, they improved technical aspects of safety, like procedures and equipment. However, Verweijen argues that changes in deeper assumptions and beliefs about risk and safety management are necessary. He compared the Macondo disaster with other offshore drilling accidents, and discovered that similar risk management problems keep recurring across the industry. Hence, he recommends that the industry as a whole should professionalize risk management training for crews, rather than just the companies involved in the Macondo disaster