A relationship is built up over time between supervisory authorities and companies managing high-risk activities.
This relationship makes a major contribution to safety, and ensures the effective management of industrial risks. It also plays a critical role in the social acceptability of these activities, and the development of trust in the governance of sites and activities at high risk of major accident.
Why is this theme important?
The importance of effective oversight of safety issues is most evident when it is lacking, as in the recent case of the Boeing 737 Max certification process, a process that has been widely criticized for its lack of rigor, and insufficient decoupling of financial considerations from safety issues.
The past few decades have seen the publication of a large body of academic literature on risk regulation and governance. Studies have analyzed the impact of different forms of regulation (ranging from highly prescriptive approaches to self-regulation), the institutional form taken by the regulatory authority, and its effects on its independence and capacity for expertise.
Results
The regulator-regulatee relationship embedded in a network of third parties
SpringerBiref in Safety Management
The Regulator–Regulatee Relationship in High-Hazard Industry Sectors
Industrial Safety "Cahiers"
The strategic analysis
The Foncsi carried out a strategic analysis of this issue from 2020 to 2023.
Methodology
Strategic analysis is a working methodology developed by the Foncsi. It aims to ensure high-level research over a particularly short period (18-24 months), and to establish a continuum of innovation between research and industry.
There are four key stages:
- The state of the art
- The international academic seminar
- Comparison with industrial practices
- The industrial seminar
Find out more about strategic analyses
The project team for this analysis
Experts from companies and associated organizations
- Cécile Laugier & Olivier Guillaume, EDF
- Jean-François Lechaudel, TotalEnergies
- Olivier At & Jean-Philippe Daniel, EPSF
- Olivier Chanton, IRSN
- Guilhem Nicolas & Cécile du Cluzel, DGAC
- Frédéric Hénon, UIC
Scientific experts
- Eric Marsden, Foncsi program manager
- Benoît Journé, University of Nantes
- Jean-Christophe Le Coze, Ineris
The working group
Between 2017 and 2019, the Foncsi also led a working group on ‘Relations between regulatory authorities and the industry’.
Find out more about working groups
The composition of the working group
European Union Railways Agency (ERA), ASN, CFDT,
Association RES, DGAC, EDF, EPSF, Ineris, Inra, IRSN,
SNCF, TotalEnergies, Université de Nantes.