On 26 August 2010 08:19, Vitaliy wrote: > RussellMc wrote: >> People ALWAYS misbehave. Any industry must factor in men behaving >> badly. And the odd woman as well. If people are willing to falsify >> welding inspection certificates for coolant control valves for nuclear >> power plants just to keep their productivity figures up (and they >> were) then there is not liable to be too many other stupid things they >> won't do if it seems a good idea at the time. > > I think anytime one talks about the need to take into account the "human > factor", one must remember that the focus should be on the results, and n= ot > on the means of achieving said results. There are numerous examples where > multibillion-dollar agencies were created to enforce regulations comprisi= ng > tens of thousands of pages, that ultimately failed in their objective (on= e > recent example has to do with the wonderful deep sea microbe from your ot= her > post). There are numerous case studies[1] and even more numerous anecdota= l > evidence that point to the fact that rules imposed from above are always > terribly inefficient at achieving the stated goal. > > The biggest problem with rules, is that they remove or weaken the vital > safety factor of personal responsibility. "I did it by the book" is a com= mon > defense when things go wrong, and the knee-jerk reaction is to add more > rules and procedures to the book, wasting resources and making whatever > they're intended to make safer, less safe. > > Vitaliy > > > [1] "Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America" by Philip K. > Howard > > -- There's also the factor that once rules are written, then loopholes allows one to work within the rulebook while breaking the intent. But making the rule too general can create other unintended results! And, as noted above, adding new rules to specifically close loopholes can make the overall situation worse. Hence, a "belevolent dictatorship" can be a very effective method of control. Except ....... RP --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .