In 2003, Steve Marshall, president of BP Alaska, warned in an internal memo to staff: “Beginning now, we will focus on safety as we have never focused on it before, as if our lives and our future in Alaska depended on it. Because they do.”

The previous year, the site had more than 11 recordable injuries and one day-away-from-work case per month, a well explosion that severely injured an operator, the death of a contract worker, and an average of more than six vehicle incidents per month. It seemed things could only get better.