05 March 2015
Survival versus safety at sea. Regulators’ portrayal of paralysis in safety regulation development
Transport competition leads maritime actors to disagree about the priority of safety or profit, and this paralyzes safety regulation development.
The paralysis constrains the regulators and their discretionary space, in which they enforce the right safety regulations for the right sectors.
When the regulators must comply with decision-criteria forced upon them by others, the criteria turn to constraints.
Safety regulation is doubly weakened when market forces influence both regulation-making and enforcement.
Industrial or political actors do not prioritize safety in practice, even though safety priority could help maritime transport to survive.
