Comments on: Severe Cost Cutting At Alyeska Pipeline Is ‘Another Example of How BP Runs Things’ http://pubrecord.org/nation/7962/severe-cutting-alyeska-pipeline/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=severe-cutting-alyeska-pipeline Intrepid New Journalism Wed, 23 May 2012 23:20:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Heinz Frey http://pubrecord.org/nation/7962/severe-cutting-alyeska-pipeline/comment-page-1/#comment-23197 Heinz Frey Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:20:22 +0000 http://pubrecord.org/?p=7962#comment-23197 Alyeska has relied heavily on automation to reduce cost, but just the opposite has happened. Cost overruns were astronomic and the project has yet to be completed. To 'prove' to the owner companies that there were savings involved they cut salaries and laid off experienced people. If Pump Station 9 was manned by technicians, instead of automated, the oil spill would never have happened. Safety used to number one at Alyeska; now it is cost; and if you have any objections you better keep them to yourself or you will be cut too. The 'open door policy' is simply used to get rid of people 'not on the team'. Meetings are useless because people know better than to object to anything, for fear of losing their job. When the company comes up with another hairbrained idea everyone is automatically on board. Managment needs to make decisions based on common sense and really listen to the experience of engineers and technicians who are actually doing the job. Alyeska has relied heavily on automation to reduce cost, but just the opposite has happened. Cost overruns were astronomic and the project has yet to be completed. To ‘prove’ to the owner companies that there were savings involved they cut salaries and laid off experienced people. If Pump Station 9 was manned by technicians, instead of automated, the oil spill would never have happened. Safety used to number one at Alyeska; now it is cost; and if you have any objections you better keep them to yourself or you will be cut too. The ‘open door policy’ is simply used to get rid of people ‘not on the team’. Meetings are useless because people know better than to object to anything, for fear of losing their job. When the company comes up with another hairbrained idea everyone is automatically on board. Managment needs to make decisions based on common sense and really listen to the experience of engineers and technicians who are actually doing the job.

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