I guess you don't just jump off a platform 50ft or more above the mile deep water and start swimming 165 miles from shore.
From The WSJ:
Douglas H. Brown, Transocean's chief mechanic on the Deepwater Horizon rig, said key representatives from both companies had a heated argument in an 11 a.m. meeting on April 20. Less than 11 hours later, the well had a blowout, an uncontrolled release of oil and gas, killing 11 workers.
Mr. Brown said Transocean's crew leaders including the rig operator's top manager, Jimmy W. Harrell, strongly objected to a decision by BP's top representative, or "company man," over how to start removing heavy drilling fluid and replacing it with lighter seawater from a riser pipe connected to the well head. Such pipes act as conduits between the rig and the wellhead at the ocean floor, and carry drilling fluid in and out of the well.
Removing heavy drilling fluid prior to sealing a well is normal, but questions have emerged about whether the crew started the process without taking other precautionary measures against dangerous gas rising into the pipe.
It isn't clear what Mr. Harrell objected to specifically about BP's instructions, but the rig's primary driller, Dewey Revette, and tool pusher, Miles Randall Ezell, both of Transocean, also disagreed with BP.
However, BP was in charge of the operation and the BP representative prevailed, Mr. Brown said.
"The company man was basically saying, 'This is how it's gonna be,' " said Mr. Brown, who didn't recall the name of the BP representative in question.
LOL...coming from a Navy guy...you sure DO, if it gets hot enough...when I was on the carriers, I contemplated more than once what it would be like to have to leap that 90 feet to the water under duress...