[SystemSafety] ElfnSafety - the potential consequences of being very relaxed about it

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

One hears about fires and building collapses in "developing" countries such as Bangladesh, and 
bemoans the lack of effective regulation of safety in the workplace environment.

One hears about a nuclear reactor in the Ukraine going into meltdown, and bemoans the apparently 
substandard knowledge of and concern about safety. Then something happens in Japan. And it's no 
longer "them", it's also "us".

Some places in the so-called "developed" world also take a more relaxed approach to health and 
safety regulation than others. The New York Times today has a lengthy article about Texas, in the 
wake of the West explosion:

> From The New York Times:
>
> After Plant Explosion, Texas Remains Wary of Regulation
>
> Last month’s devastating blast in West, Tex., did little to shake local skepticism of government regulations, and recent efforts to push for more oversight have faced strong resistance.
>
> http://nyti.ms/18xkRPl

Here is what for me counts as the summary paragraph:
> 	But Texas has also had the nation’s highest number of workplace fatalities — more than 400 annually — for much of the past decade. Fires and explosions at Texas’ more than 1,300 chemical and industrial plants have cost as much in property damage as those in all the other states combined for the five years ending in May 2012. Compared with Illinois, which has the nation’s second-largest number of high-risk sites, more than 950, but tighter fire and safety rules, Texas had more than three times the number of accidents, four times the number of injuries and deaths, and 300 times the property damage costs.

West is by no means the only incident recently in world news. I recall the explosion at BP's Texas 
City plant in 2005.  (The Baker Panel report is at 
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/SP/STAGING/local_assets/assets/pdfs/Baker_panel_report.pdf 
. Nancy was a member.)

PBL

-- 
Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Faculty of Technology, University of Bielefeld, 33594 Bielefeld, Germany
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de