Designing Safety Regulations for High-Hazard Industries

New National Academies of Sciences report offers much-needed clarity about regulatory design decisions.

Governments have long regulated the safety of industries engaged in hazardous activities. Safety regulation aims to ensure that industries can continue to provide their vital goods and services but without imposing undue risk of harm to workers, the public, and the environment. How can regulatory officials best design their regulations to achieve these aims?

Various regulatory designs offer different advantages and disadvantages, depending on the circumstances under which they are applied. To make smart decisions, regulators need a clear conceptual framework about their design options and about the conditions under which different designs will work best. Such a framework can be found in a new report issued under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.