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from the diverter or another source. Shortly afterwards, Fleytas received a call
from the drill floor, and someone on the rig crew informed her that they had a
289
“well control situation.” Fleytas testified that she received a phone call from
someone in the engine control room, and she informed him that the rig was in a
290
well control situation. After the initial explosion, the camera monitors showed
flames on the drill floor and a number of additional gas alarms went off. During
the call, Fleytas did not inform personnel in the engine control room of the gases
291
in their immediate vicinity.

At approximately 10:00 p.m., the general alarm and the fire alarm on the
Deepwater Horizon sounded. Keplinger made an announcement over the public
address system, instructing the crew to gather at emergency stations and stating,
292
“[t]his is not a drill.” The general alarm on the Deepwater Horizon was
configured to be a manually‐operated system. Mike Williams, the chief
electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon, testified that Transocean had set
293
the gas detectors in “inhibited” mode and that this was standard practice. In
the inhibited mode, the multiple magenta gas alarms were not set to
automatically trigger the general alarm and therefore, there was no alarm
configured to immediately warn personnel in the pump room of the urgent need
to go to emergency stations.

Fleytas activated the general alarm, but only after the explosion and after
talking to the crew on the rig floor and the engine control room and responding
294
to the gas alarms. Fleytas testified that she had never received training on how
to respond to multiple high gas concentration alarms going off in multiple areas
on the Deepwater Horizon.
295

F. Emergency Disconnect System

The emergency disconnect system activates the blind shear rams on the
BOP stack and disconnects the riser, allowing the rig to move off of the well. The
emergency disconnect system is manually initiated but, once activated, performs
the various disconnect functions in an automatic sequence.

288 Keplinger testimony at 150.
289 Fleytas testimony at 13.
290 Id. at 13‐14.
291 Id. at 40.
292 Keplinger testimony at 152. This is typically referred to as “mustering.”
293 Williams testimony at 30‐34.
294 Fleytas testimony, at 13‐14.

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