Government Regulations and Safety Oversight

All government, indeed every hnman benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. 

Speech on Conciliation with America, 1775 Edmund Burke 

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government. 

The January 31, 2003, rail accident in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, killing seven on board, illustrated a different regulatory problem. At the time of the 

System Safety Engineering and Risk Assessment A Practicai Approach 

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The remainder of this book will go deeply into the two concepts of system safety and risk assessment. Proven tools and techniques are discussed, and actual engineering examples are shown. It will address safety from the operator and manufacturer s point of view, as well as from government regulations and oversight. But most importantly, it will help you understand how to manage the safety of your systems. 

Once the safety regulator has reflected on the safety oversight and governance questions and determined how the organization currently is constructed, it is important to think about how to deliver services more efficiently. Can functions and resources be bundled Are they too fractured It is important to determine how best to allocate safety resources within the regulator to maximize safety oversight capability with minimal government resources. Here are a few key questions to think about ... 

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