Effects of Deregulation on Safety

This text uses case studies of the effects of deregulation on the US air and rail industries and the United Kingdom nuclear power industry as a basis for identifying likely impacts of electricity deregulation on safety of the US commercial nuclear power industry. Effects of Deregulation on Safety provides a comprehensive overview of the safety experiences of these three case study industries and their implications for the US nuclear power industry. The treatment of the subject is not highly technical, and hence is accessible to a wide range of readers with interests in the subject matter. The book draws on literature from roughly 250 references, ranging from brief news articles to book-length studies of deregulation in a particular industry, as well as original in-depth interviews with representatives of all three case study industries. This wealth of empirical background information allows the book to go beyond mere speculation about the possible adverse safety consequences of deregulation, to identify situations in which particular adverse safety consequences actually occurred.
The experience of the case study industries indicates that economic deregulation need not be incompatible with a reasonable safety record, especially in those aspects of safety that are positively related to productivity. But that safety also cannot be taken for granted after deregulation. Careful management attention is needed in order to avoid the types of safety problems that were associated with deregulation in the case study industries.