How can a major oil company that is drawing oil from a mile below the water’s surface not plan for a disastrous oil spill? They never thought it would happen. BP’s own documents said that the likelihood of such an accident occurring was “virtually impossible.” And since it was virtually impossible, BP decided to save a half-million dollars on a remote-control shutoff valve that two oil-producing countries, Brazil and Norway, require—a valve that would have stopped the spill that is inexorably creeping toward the Gulf coast.

As if that wasn’t enough, BP fought efforts to change the voluntary self-regulation laws. The oil industry opposed mandates for the remote-control shutoff switch. And BP has a history of environmental and safety violations and fines including a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act on the North Slope ($20 million fine), a leaky pipeline in Alaska ($20 million fine), and the largest OSHA fine in history for failing to correct safety problems at its Texas City, Texas, refinery ($87 million). Only a company that is making obscene profits can risk ignoring environmental and safety problems that could incur multimillion-dollar penalties.

In the Leadership category of the Baldrige Criteria, these questions are asked:

• How do you consider societal well-being and benefit as part of your strategy and daily operations?

• How do you consider the well-being of environmental, social, and economic systems to which your organization does or may contribute?

Based on results, BP apparently believes that profits trump the well-being of the environmental, social, and economic systems their oil rig is about to destroy. The company would have no more chance of being considered a world-class company by Baldrige standards than would the financial institutions, like Goldman Sachs, that have shown such total disdain for their customers’ well-being.

It’s interesting to note that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted a “Free Enterprise” conference today to promote deregulation. Yeah, that’s worked really well. The Chamber epitomizes all that is wrong with capitalism, preferring to put profitability above all other considerations. Despite the well-known companies that have resigned from the Chamber over the millions it is spending to oppose climate change legislation, including Apple, Exelon, and Pacific Gas and Electric, it continues to consider the well-being of environmental, social, and economic systems irrelevant unless they support the financial well-being of shareholders. The Chamber is a dinosaur that will eventually become extinct because of its untenable views. Unfortunately, it will continue to do damage until that happens.

To read more about corporate social responsibility, click on these articles:

• Do You Know Your Externalities?
• Sustainability: A Business Imperative
• How to Build a Culture of Social Responsibility
• New Guidelines for Social Responsibility
• Purpose-Inspired Growth
• Corporate Social Responsibility

(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)

 Loading ...