They cited a New York Times July 22 report of a survey that found rig workers feared reprisals for expressing safety concerns and documentation on the poor condition of numerous pieces of equipment, and statements at a July 23 Marine Board of Investigation hearing in Kenner, La., by Michael Williams, chief electronics technician for the offshore drilling contractor, that alarm systems on the rig had been placed in an "inhibited" mode to prevent false alarms. Williams sued Transocean; BP PLC, the well's primary owner and operator; and Halliburton Energy Services Inc., which provided cementing services, for negligence on Apr. 29 in US District Court for eastern Louisiana. He testified at the July 23 hearing that supervisors on the rig told him "they didn't want people woken up at 3 a.m. to false alarms" after he discovered that the system had been turned off, Bloomberg News reported. A computer system would have still detected high levels of gas or a fire, the story added.