Controls, inadequate, concern about

Some constraints on the two system components (ATC and TCAS) are closely related, such as the requirement to provide advisories that maintain safe separation between aircraft. This example of overlapping control raises important concerns about potential conflicts and coordination problems that need to be resolved. As noted in section 4.5, accidents often occur in the boundary areas between controllers and when multiple controllers control the same process. The inadequate resolution of the conflict between multiple controller responsibilities for aircraft separation contributed to the collision of two aircraft over the town of Uberlingen (Germany)... 

Formal methods of operation and strict hierarchies can limit communication. When information is passed up hierarchies, it may be distorted, depending on the interests of managers and the way they interpret the information. Concerns about safety may even be completely silenced as it passes up the chain of command. Employees may not feel comfortable going around a superior who does not respond to their concerns. The result may be a misperception of risk, leading to inadequate control actions to enforce the safety constraints. 

In the US, verification has become a key word in the controversy over arms control. It runs wider than straightforward consideration of the mechanisms for ensuring compliance. As Ralph Earle II, a former US negotiator, put it, If there s a desire to have a treaty, verification is adequate or effective. If there is no desire to have a treaty, verification is inadequate or ineffective ,The BW and CW arms control regimes have been caught up in wider US concerns about conventional and nuclear imbalances, about the use of Soviet and client state forces to spread Soviet influence, about the speed of Soviet technological development and about the need for the US and other NATO countries to modernise their forces in order to ensure that deterrence is not weakened. 

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