What happened on the Piper Alpha?
Working as a workplace safety motivational speaker, trainer and consultant, I have always been intrigued by what happened on the Piper Alpha.
For those of you who don’t remember what happened – on July 6, 1988, 167 workers on the world’s biggest oil rig at the time, were killed in one of the worst disasters in recent history.
If you research the story of the Piper Alpha, the investigation exposed a myriad of poor management culture, poor systems and poor follow up from previous incidents.
What it also highlighted was amazing decision making (some of which was horrific, but some very courageous) by men that made decisions on the spur of the moment; decisions that saved their lives.
Some of the workers jumped 170 feet into freezing water. The impact should have killed them, and then the water temperature in the North Sea definitely should have caused them fatal injuries.
Some of the jumpers survived (not all), though those that did followed some basic steps.
Remember that there were workers who did the same jump and were killed on impact.
In summary, the workers that survived the jump from the heli-deck of the Piper Alpha:
- Took their destiny in their own hands
- Followed procedure right to the end, including their body position, and the way they fell into the water
- Relaxed (as best they could) as they flew through the air for six seconds form the deck to the water (relaxing gave them better chances of survival – they may have done this consciously or subconsciously – but it worked)
Anyway, what is my message?
It is simple; your successful principles for life should include to:
- Make the big decisions about your future and your goals
- Find a proven strategy and follow it (find a mentor)
- Relax, and enjoy life – remember Richard Branson includes having fun in all of his businesses
By the way, if you want more information about the above story, read ‘Fire in the Night – the Piper Alpha Disaster’ by Stephen McGinty.
