A Brief History of: The Piper Alpha Oil Rig Disaster (Short Documentary)

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#Oil #History #occidental
In the late 1980s the piper North Sea oil field would experience one of the worst oil rig disasters.
Today we are looking at the tragic Piper alpha explosion and disaster.
Piper Alpha would be the deadliest Oil rig disaster with a death toll way higher than the BP Horizon event.
This is yet another occidental managed event.
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Sources:
1. www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/piper...
2. www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/piper...
3. sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-sou...
4. assets.publishing.service.gov...
5. www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sc...
By Calum McRoberts, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Fancy giving Brilliant a go use brilliant.org/PlainlyDifficult/ for the first 200 people to receive 20% off an annual subscription!!!!

[@blazekush996]

2 days ago? Also we need some long documentaries

[@letterslayer7814]

i swear this one sponsor ends up in every single youtube video at some point

[@TheEbola1994]

@@letterslayer7814 mostly on educational Content.

[@alan6832]

The other platforms were crazy not to have shut off fuel to a platform they knew was burning, and to have been trained not to do so. They must have shut off the fuel eventually and I never heard you say when they finally did.

[@Irobert1115HD]

erm wheres your patreon link?

[@fr89k]

"They didn't think they had the authority, though they could see Piper Alpha burning in a distance." - THAT shows a fundamental flaw in this system. It is absolutely justifiable to stop pumping flammable material to a place that is already on fire. If employees are too scared to do the obviously correct thing, because they're scared about repercussions from the management, then the management is really shitty. Employees should never fear to initiate emergency measures if the situation is so clear...

[@toddabowden]

I agree, but it's a very common thing in modern-day risk management. For instance at many hospitals in the US who offer emergency services, that is they have an emergency department ("emergency room"), if a person injured themselves or experiences a medical emergency right outside the physical structure of the building itself, the policy is for staff to dial local emergency services (EMS). This is a very common legal self-protection sort of policy. I have heard of similar policies at other country's hospitals. A staff member can choose to step outside and help, but it might cost them their job. Or in the event of lawsuit, the employee might be denied insurance such as malpractice insurance by the hospital. Your local hospital may vary, but this is very common in some of much of the US. Healthcare in the US tends to encourage and often reward doing what the average person would consider the "wrong thing," often because of legal and/or financial implications. If you are a caring individual and have common sense, healthcare can be a stifling environment to work in. I assume many industries are like this though, where things that defy common sense are enforced through policy, for a variety of reasons. It seems that companies (and governments) are content to put employees in impossible situations to protect the company and the executives (or politicians). If the employee follows policy, the company blames the disaster on them as much as possible. If the employee does "the right thing," the company doesn't support them even if it saves the (company/employer/environment) from disaster; the repercussions of breaking policy means the employee is often punished or their career is ruined, and typically company (or government) attorneys can successfully argue they do not have to provide legal coverage or insurance as the employee broke policy, meaning the good-doing employee has made a decision that puts them literally on their own as thanks for their efforts. Terrible how organizations, the people within them, treat people some times.

[@fr89k]

@@toddabowden "Your local hospital may vary, but this is very common in some of much of the US." - In Germany you might have to sue, but at the end you will win this... "Terrible how organizations, the people within them, treat people some times." - This is why I have a legal expensive insurance for labor law...

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

That's now changed - every facility has an OIM (Offshore Installation Manager) who has the authority and ability to shut the rig down, and they can't be over-ruled. Sometimes it's a literal "big button" that shuts key systems down. One thing to remember though is that it's not always immediately obvious what has gone wrong: Rigs often flare off gas in minor incidents. Even if you see a big flame, you don't known what it came from (there's hundreds of rigs and ships in the North Sea). And then there's the wide diameter gas main - it contained so much flammable gas that there's no guarantee that shutting down would have helped much. Needless to say, the Enquiry Report called for ALL of these things to be addressed.

[@theangelbelow88]

@@toddabowden this absolutely common in basically any large company, they need to have their bases covered before they even consider what "the right things to do" are... 😑

[@Tuberuser187]

@@pavarottiaardvark3431 One of things is the rigs themselves often use a portion of the oil or gas to run their generators, cutting the supply reflexively could hamper the emergency response as now they are dealing with a leak, a fire and now loss of power. I don't think anyone expected the destruction of the control room, without knowing what was going on over on Piper Alpha they just didn't know what to do.

[@callumjoyce1712]

"Some crew members attempted to do this, however they did not return and the system was not started up" I found this line pretty haunting.

[@masonmunkey6136]

Yeah what a horrible way to die

[@ivylearog]

Yup, really grim.

[@kentario1610]

Agreed, it was said very well.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Unless it is stated this is the case it is safe to assume they did not make it.

[@ZedderZulu]

@@CampVictoria I remember this account vividly from a documentary I watched when I was young; Piper Alpha has always horrified me. I was sure they were identified in the documentary though, so I looked it up. The information I got from skimming through the official report which is available online: Robert Carroll and Robert Vernon donned breathing apparatus and protective gear and attempted to reach the fire-water pumps but were unsuccessful due to the fire; they are listed, however, as reporting their inability to access the pumps; at least, over radio. The accounts of similarly-clad crewmen venturing out into the fire to an unknown fate may be attributed to sightings of hitherto-unidentified crewmen, possibly members of the rig's emergency response teams, trying to find safe passages out of the accommodation block. This is my own speculation, but it's hypothetically possible that some of them did manage to escape, but the report concludes that none of their attempts to find a safe evacuation route for the rest of the crew succeeded, suggesting that most died trying. Having said Carroll and Vernon reported back on their own attempt, I can't find proof that they ever did this in person. Needless to say, both men didn't survive either.

[@k0ppit]

This shows how important Lock Out Tag Out is.

[@Kae6502]

I was going to say the same thing. Paperwork is one thing, but locking out the power to something you don't want turned on is a no brainier! It's the policy everyplace I've worked.

[@burningchrome70]

I hate to say this because you are right but fuck all in day to day operations

[@camarogeddon]

@@Kae6502 If i'm not mistaken this was done (at least permits)- but one of the core issues in this case was that there were 2 permits. One for the valve, and one for the pump. These were unfortunately not cross referenced. Meaning when they went to re-activate pump A, they only found the permit for the pump - but not the valve. as no work to the pump had yet been performed, they de-activated the permit, and though the system was ready to start - not knowing about the second permit. Though - as you say, a proper LOTO would have solved this, with one padlock for each permit at the main switch to the pump for instance. That would have prevented the initial gas release. So it would seem only one lock was used - if at all.

[@MichaelLewis-ps8ei]

I love that dance

[@hermeticxhaote4723]

Meh, no need to lock out/tag out, I'm sure everything will be fine.

[@gottabesandi]

The fact that the other two rigs just kept pumping the gas and fuel to the OBVIOUSLY FLAMING piper alpha is distressing in itself.

[@GorgeDawes]

It makes you wonder as to what possible circumstances would have actually led them to stop pumping. None, presumably.

[@jamesflores9456]

@@GorgeDawes the company telling them to stop

[@geraldg4631]

@@jamesflores9456 they didn’t have to wait for the company to stop flowing gas, they were able to see it on fire from their location but chose to do nothing still just cuz they didn’t get the green light

[@budgreen4x4]

Thought it kept going due to how long the lines were and pressure they held meaning if piper couldn't shut down the pressure would feed the rig alone for up to an hour

[@TheSoonToBePurgedJackMeHoff55]

Yeah I'm right there with you. I didn't like that they thought they didn't have the "authority" to do it... authority? How about ability. If they had the ability to shut it off, which they must have, then they should have just shut it off. Who gives a shit about whether or not someone has the authority to flip a fuckin switch when almost 200 people are dying... unbelievable.

[@theangelbelow88]

"it's on fire, should we stop pumping gas towards it?" "We haven't gotten the okay from the upper management, let's just see where this goes..."

[@Arbiter099]

The fire is the ranking officer and it demands more fuel

[@LancasterResponding]

Yeah let’s just see how this plays out

[@therealslimshady3662]

whoever did low tier scrub work in their life has probably had a lower manager that thinks exactly like that.

[@geraldg4631]

The fact that they were able to see it on fire from their location is nuts

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

I actually thought you were joking around until I watched the video. Wow.

[@andriesgeyser5524]

Imagine being trapped in a room while it slips into the dark depths of the ocean. Absolutely terrifying for sure.

[@klnine]

Roasted alive before that !

[@TomKappeln]

All dead when hitting the water.

[@amydamjanovic9183]

Most, if not all of them would have been dead, or at least unconscious from smoke inhalation by the time that happened, thankfully.

[@phoenixdundee]

I was at RAF Lossiemouth that night. The SeaKings were waiting to go to an air show that weekend. The next day they were covered in oil from transporting dead bodies back to Aberdeen. Will never forget the faces of the pilots and aircrew.

[@dubskj01]

When I was at school in my mid-teens I dated a girl whose father was killed in the Piper Alpha disaster. He was a lovely man and lived only to provide for his family. Rest in peace Finlay

[@benburn5]

We still use piper alpha as a common training lesson in our site emergency services personnel. A lot of great learnings came from this disaster.

[@AbrahamSamma]

I'm not familiar with this industry's current best practices, but can you tell me what's your procedures for such handovers these days? I'm interested in knowing because it seems that's the immediate cause in this case. Edit: sorry, I realize now you may not be working in the oil industry, but if anyone can answer my question, that would be super.

[@benburn5]

Abraham Samma I am not in the oil and gas industry sorry, however the industry I am in we use a padlock system and permit system. At the start of any maintenance any item of plant that can feed, release energy, become electrified, or pretty much have the potential to kill someone gets identified and that system is isolated and the control is physically padlocked by a permit officer and verified by the people doing the maintenance. Then the key for all those padlocks and the list of what’s locked off are placed in a viewable lockbox and the box is padlocked shut by a isolation officer then anyone who carrying out the maintenance also locks on to the lockbox thereby ensuring none of the keys can be removed while someone is work the machine. At the end of the shift the handover sheet that’s attached to the lockbox is filled out so the next shift knows what’s going. At the end of the maintenance the maintenance supervisor will inspect the job with the maintainers and isolation officer for that shift if the work is complete the iso officer will then remove all the padlocks. Ps the isolation officers all have the same key so if the job runs over and completed on a different shift the iso officer on the other shift can remove the isolation locks. The maintainers have each got a set of individual locks and keys to prevent someone removing all the locks while someone is working on the job.

[@Baelor-Breakspear]

@@benburn5 that’s a great system. Do you work for a power company? In a transmission station? Something like that?

[@benburn5]

@@Baelor-Breakspear nope mineral mining we have had the padlock system for over 20 years now, but a sign on and off hand over system for about 10-15 years

[@cjmillsnun]

The lessons learned are used in the industry I work in. One of the first things I do (I issue permitry) is to check for conflicts. Where there are, but two jobs can work together I won't lift restrictions until both jobs are complete. Valves are locked out physically where required.

[@TheBlackbird]

You know shit is going to hit the fan at plainly difficult when specific times are coming in...

[@ReneSchickbauer]

The two magic words "shift change" pretty much are the trigger in many videos ;-)

[@lanswyfte]

that's not how you censor shit

[@TheBlackbird]

@@lanswyfte LOL

[@Baelor-Breakspear]

😂 😂

[@MarinaEagle1]

Yeah. You know stuff goes down when he's like "At 8:17 pm

[@moomeansmooable]

Piper alpha has always horrified me. Look up the records from the rescue to hear some heartbreaking stuff.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It is tragic

[@cobbleturd6978]

It's terrifying honestly, what a terrible way to die

[@blindsniper35]

Being explosively decompressed through in 18-in hole.(oil rig diving bell accident) That has always disturbed me more than it happened on Piper alpha.(oil rig work is dangerous)

[@neuralmute]

The fact that experienced marine SAR crews were completely unprepared for this scenario, and ended up victims as well... That's terrifying stuff.

[@getbogged]

blindsniper35 Yeah that one disturbs me a lot more too. The image of the body is horrific

[@samanthal9114]

I live in Aberdeen. This happened the year before I was born, and yet, it is something that has always hung over the city. There are multiple memorials around the city to the disaster. One in the park close to where I live, I walk past it most days on the way to work at the hospital where people were evacuated to. One of the churches in Ferryhill (a neighbourhood in the city) has a huge stained glass window of the oil right, with red and white orbs travelling up to the sky, the souls of 165 people who died. In 2008 there was a stage play to commemorate the disaster in the community theater. We even have a maritime museum, that has an entire floor dedicated to the oil industry has a large section on the disaster. I think the worst thing, or maybe a good thing that there was camera footage of the disaster. The helicopter that left Lossiemouth, was being filmed as part of a reality TV show that was filming the RAF Search and Rescue crews (before they stopped doing it and the coastguard took over), they covered the event on the TV show. It is a little strange, to see an event that has altered the fabric of my city. You speak to the older generations, almost everyone knows someone who worked on Piper Alpha. Most people will know someone affected.

[@annabellereid4141]

I work in Bravo. I was born 4 years after piper and it was a thing my parents warned me about every year. I still went to work as a medic in oil and gas. I guess I thought, if I couldn't prevent the disaster, I could at least get people to safety 🤷‍♀️😬

[@jimmyfiddlesticks337]

One of the workers who made it onto a boat got out a camera and started filming it too. If you want an extensive look into what happened, I recommend the Seconds From Disaster TV series which covers disasters, how they happened and what it changed in that industry/ regard.

[@conradmcdougall3629]

I work at an oil refinery in Ontario Canada. This event helped mold safety protocols here, 3,000 miles away.

[@cmdr1911]

The Marcellus and Utica Shale have greatly improved their safety operations. It annoys the old timers to no end.

[@equarg]

Conrad McDougall I bet the Deep Water Horizens event was equally horrifying. 😖 The lives lost the damage done to nature, and the costs. 😒 Sometimes a few million dollars spent saves you a multi billion dollar headache, bad PR, lawsuits out the backside, and dealing with politicians/lawyers!

[@Baelor-Breakspear]

Stay safe man

[@jenniferbaldini3527]

Dear plainly difficult: I know part of this is not something you generally cover, but would you consider doing something on the Kerr-Mcgee/Karen Silkwood story? The level of plutonium theft, plant 'hot' accidents with people spreading radiation throughout the town, sending cracked rods to Hanford, lack of working radiation monitors, and of course everything done to Karen leading up to and including her fatal 'accident' (just to name a few issues) is dying to be told!! (No pun intended Miss. Silkwood). Love your videos!

[@NyanyiC]

Hope he sees your request

[@jenniferbaldini3527]

@@NyanyiC crossing fingers and hoping that to...🤞🤞

[@MarkusxJxKeetz]

Jennifer Baldini I think this would some cool to cover! I hope he sees mine from the last video...

[@jenniferbaldini3527]

P.S. if you are looking for something to scare the hell out of you for a LONG time, read "The Killing of Karen Silkwood". If you cant find it, (it may be out of print) the movie "Silkwood" lays out the story pretty well. Stealing a quote from 'The X-Files', "The Truth is Out There".

[@BrettonFerguson]

The 2000 Baia Mare Cyanide Spill would be good too.

[@dcviper985]

Wow, the nonsense with the pump out of service form makes me wonder when they invented lock-out/tag-out for safety controls.

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

Lock Out Tag Out first started appearing in the USA and Canada in 1989 ish, one year after the Piper Alpha disaster. Use of those systems quickly became "best practise" in the oil industry. (although similar safety mechanisms have existed for more than a century in the railroad industry).

[@Strife584]

In the UK lockout procedures were introduced because of Piper alpha..

[@khutt19]

The pump was locked out and tagged.I was a rig mechanic for the drilling company on the Piper A,8 years, I was at home on my two weeks off.T he Piper had an excellent permit system for that time,and it worked.What happened that night may never be known for sure, but for example ,I am an engineer I am putting a blank flange on a gas line ,I am in a position maybe not easy accessed,why would I not tighten it ,does not make sense.The pump had to be unlocked to start, ok there was maybe a mistake made here,but ultimately the mistake was not shutting down the platform. Do the money maths 250,000 barrels per day of oil at say $40.00 Oxy were no way shutting that money down,and the UK tax on that oil,no,it was not a permit,not a faulty flange or a wrongly started pump that killed 167 men,it was pure evil greed.

[@lewismassie]

I spent several weeks writing an essay on Piper Alpha 2 years ago, and this was very well put together indeed. Would have made my research job a lot easier. In fact you didn't miss anything that I found out, and cam to the same kind of conclusion My essay also had a second part where I talked about the rig's replacement, Piper Bravo. It had the CGM in module alpha, explosion and oil fire resistant walls, and the lifeboats could be accessed from inside the accommodation block without breathing outside air. More worryingly, in recent years it seems the safety culture in North Sea Oil is breaking down again. I don't need to explain why that's bad

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

"Fire in the Night", an award winning film about the disaster, is available on youtube

[@GorgeDawes]

A terrific and sobering watch.

[@koomber777]

We watched it offshore on the anniversary one year. Shower of arseholes offshore normally. Not a sound through the whole thing. The banter in the video... Yeah it's harrowing.

[@user-vz3xy7hw8v]

Not available.

[@ivylearog]

That's an amazing and terrifying documentary.

[@snipersEND]

When you teased this video I thought it was the deepwater horizon disaster. I'm glad it wasn't! It was interesting to learn about something I hadn't heard of before

[@csatterley]

In terms of loss of life Piper Alpha was much worse than Deep Water Horizon. 167 died. I'm guessing that most people in the UK who've worked in any kind of manufacturing, construction or heavy industry setting will have had Piper used as an example in safety training at some point. It is a full top to bottom catalogue of how you shouldn't do things. At every critical point a decision was made that killed more people.

[@ajeltheflightsimmer]

​@@csatterleyHowever horizon had ended up pumping a large amount of oil into the ocean.

[@THEBOB566974]

My dad finished his shifts 2 weeks before the desaster. He is still in touch with some of the wifes who lost there husband's

[@junatah5903]

Sad.

[@oijqwoijdowiqjdqw]

Im sure he is lol

[@motsumilioness]

Spelling and grammar fix: Desaster - Disaster. Wifes - Wives. There - Their. Husband's - Husbands. (Husband's suggests that something belongs to a husband. Like the husband's life was lost. Husbands is plural, as is wives.) There is used like 'That dog is right there!' Their is possessive, as in their husbands. Or their children. Wifes, that's just not proper. That bugs me like people who say wolfs instead of wolves. Wives with a V is proper, as in more than one wife. Your editing didn't fix Jack squat. Don't know if shifts is an error, as I'm sure people working on rigs probably had back to back shifts. So I can't correct that one. But if that is actually one shift instead of more than one shift, that is my bad.

[@Vincent_Sullivan]

@Kyaru Momochi As it happens, I care! Words and grammar have meaning and specific words (using specific spellings) and specific grammar have specific meanings. Using incorrect words, spellings, and grammar can obscure the meaning of the thought a person is trying to convey to the reader. This leads to the reader having to make assumptions that may be incorrect. In the particular case of Jack Mason's comment, making an incorrect assumption about the meaning may not cause any problem but where do you draw the line? I am reminded of a case I heard of where a control room operator on an oil and gas production platform made the assumption that it was permissible and safe to start a pump because he could not find any paperwork that said otherwise. The event didn't end well... Clear, accurate, and unambiguous communication is important! That being said, different people have different levels of language skills and low levels of language skill may not be indicative of poor schooling. Perhaps the person is writing in a language that they are not very familiar with but that the majority of their readers are familiar with and they are doing their best as a courtesy to the majority of the people reading their comments. I am more than willing to work with such a person to try and understand the meaning that they are trying to convey as best I can, and to seek clarification if necessary. I note that Gina M's comment was courteous. She didn't call Mr. Mason's intelligence into question. She offered factual corrections on the spelling and meaning of words and grammar. Well done Gina! We should all be willing to learn something new and I hope Mr. Mason felt that Gina was trying to help him improve his language skills. It does seem to me that a lot of language skills help is required for KZbin comment writers! I note that, with the exception of JunaTah's one word comment, in my opinion EVERY comment in this thread has language errors of one sort or another. Gina's comment is actually very good in terms of spelling and grammar but I would use somewhat different phraseology to make the meaning clearer. This is more an issue of "style" rather than a "spelling and grammar" issue. Proofreading is also important to do, but it seems to be a lost art these days. Now for the bonus round: I will award a "Hero Biscuit" to anybody who points out a language error in this comment! Go to it...

[@thewhatwhat12333]

@Kyaru Momochi holy shit you keyboard warriors need to stop writing essays about extremely trivial issues

[@tigermothproductions6838]

I don't generally comment on videos - but I'm a naval architect, and the Piper Alpha disaster is the one that really chills me out of all the ones I've studied. I haven't done any design work on rigs, but I have on tankers, and this one hammers home that when things go wrong at sea, they go wrong very quickly. However shiny and impressive the safety systems look when installed, they may not be up to much when shit hits the fan.

[@theshermantanker7043]

The only thing that's perhaps worse than a naval disaster is an aviation one, honestly

[@oliverpicton32]

The UK flag with eyes is freaky

[@PlainlyDifficult]

He comes to me in my dreams

[@noahbagel177]

Lol

[@evilemuempire9550]

It was the last thing small African countries saw before being annexed into the Glorious Empire

[@Tindometari]

"Obey me or fear my wrath."

[@Baelor-Breakspear]

It looks like it’s looking for different flags to do it’s bidding.

[@Exile_G]

My dad was one of the first medics to arrive on the scene, He arrived from the Ocean Odyssey. Not long after in September of '88 Ocean Odyssey almost became the second Piper Alpha again through mismanagement. My Dad was one of the 8 survivors who had to jump into the sea after missing the life boat launch.

[@carlcunningham7750]

I've read about this disaster before. My heart goes out to the men who went into the flames to try and shut down the pumps- from the stories I've heard, they wore every bit of fire gear they had but it seems like it didn't matter.

[@ADRIAAN1007]

You have to do the Deep Water Horizon oil spill now, the sheer amount of cascading mechanical failures that occured to make the blow out preventer fail deserve a documentary on their own.

[@kirknay]

USCSB has an in depth video on it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHS5dIKNms-fl8k

[@Syclone0044]

kirknay Hah! I was just about to say the same thing and you beat me to it by 16 minutes and added the link too! Nice work

[@kirknay]

@@Syclone0044 USCSB BROTHAS! 🙌

[@drsnepper]

@@kirknay I watch their videos so much my roommates claim I watch it for sexual gratification purposes. LOL

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

I remember the Seconds From Disaster on this disaster. It is frustrating that simple things could have if not mitigated it, at least made it smaller and easier to handle...

[@PsilocybinCocktail]

I remember watching that. It was trainwreck television and is something I remember to this day.

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

This is really highlighting lock out, tag out as a good, modern maintenance procedure and that on site management only cared about production and not safety.

[@meregaming1770]

That's management, they only care about money, no matter the industry.

[@warailawildrunner5300]

I was a child when this happened, and I still remember the coverage in the UK news - bear in mind this was well before internet and well before 24/7 news in the UK.

[@stuartlaw9407]

As a then 9 year old, I still recall to this day all the helicopters flying overhead (My parents house is on the flight path to the airport). Even now whenever I see or hear multiple choppers I can’t help but wonder if something sinister is “going on”. Our neighbours son died in the tragedy. I heard years later that he shouldn’t have been working then, but I’ve never found out the truth. His mother still lives next door. They say there are certain monumental events that “change” a place, be it company or location. Piper was certainly one of them. Both for the Aberdeen and for the Energy industry. I now work in O&G, albeit onshore in a support role.

[@bificommander]

"The hellscape that is 2020, which is rated 8 on the Plainly Difficult disaster scale.

[@Eric_Hutton.1980]

It should be a 10+

[@SebAnders]

@@Eric_Hutton.1980 it can always get worse...

[@Zeppflyer]

Hello, really enjoying your videos. One small request: Would it be possible to say aloud what number you're rating each disaster on your scale? Frequently, I'm listening to your videos while working on something, but not actually looking at the screen. Than you!

[@maxtorque2277]

Anyone with a further interest in what happened on Alpha, and to the men working on it, should read "Fire in the Night" by Steven McGinty and watch the documentary of the same name!

[@Gorslax]

Yess I’m always in for oil industry disasters I just found out about the Alexander kierlland (probably misspelled that) that capsized and 123 people died. The photos and video are crazy to watch.

[@colinmacdonald5732]

I worked with a guy who got his start just before 1988. He was told that there were 3 rigs in the North Sea that he should never, under any circumstances, work on, Piper Alpha was one of them.

[@jamessmith84240]

A giant blow torch heating up a metal cage with you inside. Fed by not just their own oil and gas but even more, constantly pumped at them on an industrial level from two other oil platforms. Truly terrifying.

[@tnerbtnerb5136]

6:26 "Job's a good'n." Excellent grounds for concern.

[@DemstarAus]

My husband works in a large plant and this case was used to illustrate the importance of adhering to safety protocols and not ignoring alarms.

[@klnine]

I was logging engineer on board. I was so impressed by the proffesionalism of the Oxy team and service ompanies. I was almost in tears visiting their offices for weeks as we attempted to recover explosives and RA sources !

[@tanakahd3693]

Couple guys I work with were on the rig at the time. They have been eternally scarred not just physically, emotionally too. I work in the North Sea Oil & Gas Sector on an oil rig. Piper Alpha is always brought up and pinicle point of health and safety regulations coming into place. Thanks to Lord Cullens report and findings. RIP those 167 souls lost.

[@maryavatar]

I’m from Orkney, and was 16 when this happened. Everyone knew someone with a family member working in the oil industry, and it was devastating. The late 80’s were a horrifying time due to profits outweighing health & safety in the UK - Hillsborough, the Herald of Free Enterprise, King’s Cross and Piper Alpha all happened within 3 years of each other, and resulted in so many deaths. Fortunately, things did get better because of these events, but people don’t remember for long, and eventually greed triumphs - as Grenfell has shown us.

[@MKLettis]

Just imagining being trapped on a burning rig in the middle of the ocean is terrifying. Those poor people.

[@oijqwoijdowiqjdqw]

Just imagine being in an ocean and still dying in a fire, not very smart were they

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Why is destruction so interesting

[@neuralmute]

Why is this response so much funnier because it's from Putin?

[@WowUrFcknHxC]

Because you must destroy to create. NVM, i forgot edgy nihilist isn't my scene.

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

neuralmute Because all jokes by Putin are funny or do you need to go to re-education?

[@simonmikkelsen]

Engineer here: I want to learn from others mistakes in order not to make them myself. Also, destruction is interesting.

[@Werrf1]

Because it's what you can learn from. There's only so much to learn from a smoothly-functioning system, because nothing really draws your attention. When things go wrong, you can follow a narrative to gain insight into what to do and what not to do.

[@leopold7562]

The retrofit gave me pause, but the real first shudder came when you explained how the other two rigs used Piper Alpha as a waypoint. What a great idea, having a badly modified platform as a single point of failure! I get that undersea pipes are expensive, but it would’ve been loose change compared to what transpired. I’m surprised there were no lock out tags on the unfixed pump, nor any common sense at either of the other platforms to just shut down. I get that corporate greed forces staff to ignore their base instincts, but it’s clear they should’ve listened to the voice in their head instead of waiting for the one on the radio.

[@JimLockwoodShow]

I am completely blind. Love your channel. But if you could indicate where you are pointing on the plainly difficult disaster scale, like what number you are reading it on the scale, instead of just saying “here“ that would be great. Keep up the good work

[@0v3rr1d3]

I remember seeing documentaries on this. An atrocity that didn't need to happen...

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It was completely avoidable

[@tomscott4973]

I live in the Aberdeen area, I wasn't a alive when Piper Alpha disaster occurred, however the effects of the disaster are still felt in a lot of people in the area, I remember back in school I was in an engineering class and we started talking about it and one of our engineering teacher told us about how many students in his class lost members of their family in the event and I know many of my friends had family members who were on the rig.

[@hogexd]

Great channel. I’ve bingewatched all of your nuclear disaster videos already.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@illogicalGhost]

jesus, imagine looking inside that fireproof room and finding 87 bodies. bodies of people who thought they'd be safe inside, who couldn't make it to the lifeboats, who spent their last moments cowering in fear and falling into the sea. absolutely unimaginable.

[@frankryan2505]

I remember this on the BBC news as a kid,still find it haunting to this day.

[@Tarred_and_feathered]

Hey Plainly Difficult, I would love to see your take on the capsizing of the Ocean Ranger. A floating oil rig that was hit by a rogue wave off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland where all hands were lost. The rig continued to kill people even after the main disaster. The incident has some very interesting process safety learnings.

[@morgan4574]

@TheBrodsterBoy both. These ocean faring platforms and vehicles are supposed to be designed to handle 100-year i.e. rouge waves. Especially in remote locations where help is not easy to access.

[@PurityVendetta]

The British way, no one is ever actually accountable in corporate world. As long as someone utters the magic words 'Lessons will be learned.' it's all good.

[@bakeroLJ]

Been waiting for this one.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I hope you like the video

[@sekayegaudet131]

I remember I requested this a while back thank you for covering it! Great video I enjoy learning about these industrial and man made disasters very fascinating keep making videos.

[@dsnodgrass4843]

All too frequently, shift handovers are complicated by having to route all information through management at a level above both shifts; who often has an interest in preventing cooperation (or even stoking antagonism/rivalry) between shifts. Strategic denial and/or twisting of information is a common management abuse across all sectors of industry, along with denial of proper repair parts or tools due to "cost" or perceived necessity (by management). This abuse can be present even when lives depend upon proper procedures, and evidence of it will often vanish if someone dies as a result of improper ones dictated by management. They hold the paper; and they can hide the paper trail. TL;DR: Never trust your life to people who wouldn't come to your funeral. Do your own handovers.

[@mrwri]

We awarded more than 20 medals that day.

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

Side note: Methane clathrate would be better represented as (CH4)4(H2O)23 or CH4·5.75H2O. The collapsed version is absolutely cursed and without pointing out that it's an empirical formula it implies it's some massive structure instead of just methane crystallized into ice. I thought it was some massive peroxide filled organic molecule and it was just empirical with a mixture of bonds Empirical formula is when you just list the ratio of atoms contained in a molecule with the smallest whole numbers. A structural or condensed formula is much more useful for carbon-containing molecules.

[@DiakronYT]

Another great Video please keep up the good work mate!

[@CrookedSkew]

I've found you through KZbin suggesting these videos and have binge watched for several days. Thank you - they're very interesting, cautionary, easy to follow and easy to watch. Just a heads-up for an idea for a video. It would be very interesting for you do to a special correlating the issues most common to the disasters you have researched and also, perhaps see if there is a pattern within each industry - ie: Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Chemical, etc. Apologies if you have already done something of the kind and I missed it!

[@wanderinghistorian]

Are you sitting there trying to tell me that an oil fire melted STEEL BEAMS? :P j/k people ;)

[@skepticalmagos_101]

Melt no, weaken yes. And let gravity do the rest.

[@krashd]

@Mal Contender If you are referring to 9/11 then it actually does happen exactly as we witnessed. "The floor above hits the one below"? Because both planes hit the 109th floor did they? In one tower it was 8 floors that fell on to the one below and in the other tower it was 17 floors that fell on to the one below, so no there wouldn't be any kind of hesitation if that is what you were grasping at. The weight of 8 to 17 floors giving way to gravity won't be stopped by anything short of Superman... Ignorance is a choice, oddly a very popular one in the United States.

[@Daydreaminginmono]

Get well excited for these uploads, thanks again PD.

[@theemissary1313]

Reminds me of the terrible joke "what has four legs and goes woof? Piper Alpha!" Someone told that in the presence of a guy who worked on the rigs when it happened and the worker said that it WAS funny but he didn't want to hear it again. Gallows humour at its best/worst

[@dchiab818]

And the most horrifying thing is that according to some other video, since crew onboard offshore rig was so isolated, they treat each other as family members, and seeing the number of friends and family dies in front of their eye, this must be horrible for the surviving crew.

[@charredskeleton]

Love the animation, editing, and general style of the videos! Good information as well.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you

[@williamdunnamjr972]

This is difficult to plainly admit, but another high quality video bro. Will be sharing on twitter.

[@Werrf1]

I remember this when it happened. I didn't really understand what was going on - I was nine - but I remember the endless piece of footage of Module A burning for weeks after it happened, and everyone trying to understand what went wrong. Seven George Medals were awarded to people involved in the disaster or the rescue; all three crewmen on the rescue boat that was destroyed were among the recipients, two of them posthumously.

[@XLA-zg1nn]

probably the best break down of 'piper' i've seen before :-)

[@enstamud]

Love the really cheerful narration throughout Def sets the tone for the event

[@codykyle511]

Love ur vids !

[@HereIsMyOffer]

''Fire in the night'' (2013) is a fantastic documentary on the Piper. Book of the same title is excellent too!

[@Damien.D]

Never heard of that one. There are lots of coal mining disaster if you need some material also. Look for Courrières mining disaster in France, start of XX century. 1099 lives claimed in one explosion and botched rescue effort (the mine was condemned to shut the fire out, enthombing alive every survivors that couldn't have made it to the surface because lifts were destroyed).

[@34bartm]

Great video 👍

[@shtormH1]

Love the videos!

[@tornagawn]

My Dad was an anaesthetist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary when this happened.....they flew to the rig in a helicopter but had to return....nowhere to land. He was also in the TA and served in Gulf War 1 at a medical base in Riyadh. I have friends who lost family in this disaster. A major cause of problems in so many areas....poor communication.

[@WendysCove]

Thanking you for all the hard work you do from yr spot in you no where... Brilliant

[@busterbeagle2167]

Thanks for the upload

[@SWBF2-2005IsBestStfu]

Yayyyyyyyyyy, I love it when companies have no comeuppance for massive industrial disasters.

[@joshlink2129]

Thanx Brilliant's amazing!

[@stephenbritton9297]

This along with the OCEAN RANGER and DEEPWATER HORIZON really shape the industry.

[@VoltageLP]

nice videos, man

[@simonjackson7269]

My wife works for one of the legal firms who claimed compensation for those affected by this disaster.... the cast notes are truly fascinating ... then the note for Deepwater Horizon are totally horrific!

[@WG55]

Request: the 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectic turbine disaster.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It's on the cards should be out this month!

[@WG55]

@@PlainlyDifficult Glad to hear it. It seemed right up your alley. And it is such a bizarre accident. One wouldn't expect clean, safe hydroelectic power to be so deadly!

[@dankmacloud6313]

love the content

[@fensoxx]

Nice work! From the US I had never heard of this. Thanks for the history lesson!

[@photoofstuff1932]

So excited! I suggested this one!!!!!

[@ryansta]

What's got four legs and goes woof !?

[@Baelor-Breakspear]

How do over 200 people stay on that tiny rig comfortably? That’s so crazy that many people can stay on that platform at any one time.

[@2secondslater]

A point to highlight... NO CRIMINAL CHARGES

[@davebdot6713]

Your videos help making the world a better place

[@PaoloMarcelli]

A video on the deepwater horizon oil spill would be great!

[@Alex-cw3rz]

6:59 I love that you put cue dot (the black and white box in the corner) they used to signify adverts would start soon on ITV

[@fallingfirex]

I still think the Teton dam would be interesting, but this is a nice branch off of the normal!

[@eliz_scubavn]

My town actually has a factory which makes oil rig modules and legs. You seriously don’t realize the size of these things until you see one being shipped out to be installed.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I can imagine! I’d like to see one in the flesh so to speak one day

[@eliz_scubavn]

Plainly Difficult they’re super cool to actually see for yourself. Just don’t do what I did and look down...

[@pfadiva]

I was in Galveston, TX once and watched a semi-submersible rig go out. That was impressive and a little odd, watching a thing that had no resemblance to a ship act like one. You're right, those things are massive!

[@victortuber9116]

Moments from disaster did a long show on this with interviews of some of the men who left the living area against advice of their fellows (that went down with it). One interesting note, the secondary explosion of the high pressure line was contributed to by divers leaving rubber mats directly below it (that they were, of course, NOT supposed to do) on which burning fuel accumulated leading to much of the heat that overcame the integrity of that line.

[@joshua4960]

Great job hats off

[@tedstrong3990]

Your videos are awesome

[@alwayslate1336]

Only learnt about this last week. Commented on your last vid requesting you cover it. Boom. Thank you sir.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

😬

[@alwayslate1336]

Interested to learn more about the tragic explosion in Beirut this year, although reports and findings are still probably happening.

[@ouroya]

I know this is a nit-pick, but the formula you gave for methane clathrate is wildly misleading as to its structure, implying that it is a complex organic molecule, when it's actually methane molecules trapped in water lattices, and as such it is better represented as CH₄·5.75H₂O (or 4CH₄·23H₂O)

[@ArcanisUrriah]

I live in Aberdeen. We all knew something was wrong, as the choppers never stopped. Occidental (Oxy) moved out very soon after, with assets bought over by someone else (either that, or they just changed name). The UK office, in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, where the aftermath investigation centred, was demolished only this year.

[@josephmassaro]

Bernard: Lossiemouth is a place? Sir Humphrey: What did you think it was? Bernard: A dog food.

[@RichardWatt]

As someone who was born and grew up in the Aberdeenshire area, I remember Oxy's offices in Aberdeen being across the road from the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) where, iirc, the public enquiry was held. Also, Lord Cullen made it clear that he wanted anyone who wanted to testify at the enquiry to be able to do so without fear of being blacklisted by the industry - and the North Sea oil & gas industry agreed (which surprised me at the time) - and this was a standard practice for them to deal with people who reported health & safety concerns but the UK government never stepped in to stop that practice before Piper Alpha.