Offshore Rig Worker Admits Faking Blow-Out Preventer Safety Tests

A rig worker has pleaded guilty in federal court to ordering his crew to falsify test results on a faulty blow-out preventer in the Gulf of Mexico. It occurred before and after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten says investigators determined false test results were recorded on several occasions. He says Donald Hudson of Mississippi ordered his crew on a drilling rig operated by Helmerich and Payne off the Louisiana coast to improperly conduct pressure testing and record faulty results. Investigators from the Interior Department found inaccurate tests were conducted from January to May in 2010. The Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred in April of that year when its blow-out preventer failed. Helmerich and Payne has said all employees involved have been fired. Hudson is scheduled to be sentenced August 8th. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a quarter-million-dollar fine.