Accumulating trouble: Complex organization, a culture of silence, and a secret spill

Over a period of thirty-eight years, Unocal Corporation spilled as much as 20 million gallons of petroleum into Central California's Guadalupe/Nipomo Dunes fouling the ground water, the beach, and other habitat pro during wha t may be the largest petroleum spill in United States' history. A whistlebl ower finally reported this spill in February of 1990. which led to the shut down of their oil field fines, and criminal charges. Through the analysis o f oilfield social and organizational dynamics. this article maker three int errelated contributions to current understandings of hazard creation and re sponse and organizational deviance. First, it builds on and extends researc h on "man-made disasters." I argue that commonplace social and organization al structures. combined with equally unremarkable, yet incrementally cumula tive petroleum spillage to produce a remarkable outcome-millions of gallons of petroleum contamination. Second, in addressing the social dynamics at t he oil field, I develop the theoretical concept of a culture of silence to capture the collective secrecy that surrounded the spill once the local wor kgroup recognized the danger ii presented to their ongoing organizational v iability. Finally an understanding of these serial and organizational dynam ics suggests significant policy ramifications concerning the viability of c urrent industrial self-regulation as a strategy for monitoring environmenta l compliance.