Oil Spill in the Gulf

It is a tragedy the oil spill in the Gulf and the response by the Federal Government and BP seems to be half-hearted at best. As a safety professional who subscribes to root cause analysis (see my blog post on root cause analysis), I want to know what caused this disaster.


Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the lack of attention paid to investigating and determining the cause? I hate to jump the gun, but was it terrorism or stupidity?


I think that the public should be updated on the progress by both BP and the Federal Government. At the very least, every State that has an ocean shoreline or oil/natural gas drilling in it should demand the report on the cause of the disaster.

Wire Rope Safety

Just recently I added a winch to my utility trailer. I had to string the winch with wire rope and a hook. It got me to thinking, what a great blog topic. When adding a bight (The term bight is used in knot tying to refer to any curved section, slack part, or loop between the two ends of a rope, string, or yarn.) to wire rope, there is a right way and wrong way to attach the clamps to make the bight.


The way to remember the correct procedure is the saying, "Never saddle a dead horse." The saddle is the part of the wire rope clamp that the U-bolt passes through. The saddle always goes on the working end of the line (the longer line) and the U-bolt goes on the dead end (short end).


The pic shows the parts of the bight, the clamp, and the proper way to install it. You can download "the proper installation and warnings" from Crosby, a manufacturer of wire rope products here: Crosby card