Oil Spill

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by spudcon

The platform blew up! Would some government required document have done any good after it burned?

First answer: Posssibly, yes. Accurate drawings of the apparatus as-built (rather than as-planned, which may not be the same) certainly seem like they could be useful in a post-disaster scenario.

Second answer: Despite that, the primary purpose of such documentation is to prevent a disaster, not to deal with one. "Some government required document" should exist, be up to date, and in use, before and during production. It may be able to do good "after it burned", but it can do more good before.

On the one hand, it may not be too late, as Atlantis isn't the one that burned, but on the other hand it may be too late. If any equipment went to the bottom with ad-hoc modifications that weren't documented, attempts to reconstruct such documents would have to rely on fallible human memory.