BP to link staff rewards to safety

BP Plc said safety will be the sole criterion for judging employee performance in the fourth quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing an internal company memo.                                           
 

The memo, written by new chief executive Bob Dudley, was sent to employees on Monday, the story said.                                           
 

The sole criterion for judging performance in the 2010 fourth quarter would be "each business's progress in reducing operational risks and achieving excellent safety and compliance standards," said the memo.                                           

The change was designed to ensure an incident such as the "Deepwater Horizon tragedy" never happens again, the story said.                                           
 

The memo added that all existing performance contracts for the first three quarters would be honoured.                                            
 

The news comes less than a week after the Obama administration lifted its ban on deepwater oil drilling.              
 

The ban was prompted by a drilling accident on April 20 that ruptured BP's Macondo oil well and poured millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.                                           
 

BP did not immediately return a call for comment.