(Adds Transocean response in paragraphs 4-7.)

Washington, 23 July (Argus) – Democratic leaders from the US House of Representatives want Deepwater Horizon owner Transocean to turn over documents regarding safety on the drilling rig after a worker testified an alarm had been placed in “inhibited” mode.

House energy and commerce committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-California) and oversight and investigations subcommittee chair Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) sent a letter today to Transocean chief executive Steven Newman to turn over all documents from 1 January 2005 to the present related to safety on the rig, workers attitudes about safety or concerns raised by workers, contractors or inspectors.

The request came after rig worker Michael Williams told the Marine Board of Investigations in Kenner, Louisiana, that an alarm system on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon had been placed in “inhibited” mode to prevent workers from being disturbed by false alarms.

Responding to Williams' testimony, Transocean said the general alarm configuration on the Deepwater Horizon “was intentional and conforms to accepted maritime practices, including those on some Navy and Coast Guard vessels. It was not a safety oversight or done as a matter of convenience.”

Like alarms on other vessels, the alarm on the Deepwater Horizon was zone-based. The rig “had hundreds of individual fire and gas alarms, all of which were tested, in good condition, not bypassed and monitored from the bridge.”

The rig's general alarm was controlled by a person on the bridge, Transocean said.

“This is an option on each individual vessel designed to prevent the general alarm from sounding unnecessarily when one of the hundreds of local alarms activates for what could be a minor issues or a non-emergency,” the company said. “Repeated false alarms increase risk and decrease rig safety.”

The lawmakers asked Transocean to provide the documents by 30 July and to brief congressional investigators on Deepwater Horizon safety practices by 4 August.

Yesterday, BP well team leader John Guide, who supervised operations on the rig from BP's Houston, Texas, offices, told the Marine Board cost was not a factor in his decisions regarding a well that was significantly behind schedule. “All I was concerned about was long-term, well-bore integrity,” Guide said.

Natalie Roshto, widow of worker Shane Roshto, said her husband had “many concerns about pressure on the rig and mud they were losing.” He was among 11 workers who died in the rig's 20 April explosion and subsequent sinking.

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