Setting Safety Standards: Regulation in the Public and Private SectorsIn this highly original and meticulously researched comparison of public and private standards-setting, Ross E. Cheit questions the old maxim that government-set safety standards are too severe while those set by the private sector are too lenient. Identifying the comparative institutional advantages of each arrangement through four paired case studies of grain elevators, woodstoves, aviation fire safety, and gas space heaters, he finds instead that some private standards are surprisingly strict, while government is better positioned to survey real-world experience and sponsor research likely to improve standards-setting. Setting Safety Standards challenges those political scientists who argue that only public institutions can advance the public interest in the controversial field of health and safety. Cheit draws attention to such little-known organizations as Underwriters Laboratories and the National Fire Protection Association, private-sector alternatives to the government regulation so frequently criticized as time-consuming, inflexible, and unreasonable. These organizations, he shows, play a far more significant role in regulation than most federal agencies, even though the standards they develop are widely—and often mistakenly—assumed to be less concerned with due process than government standards and often unduly lax. This study should be widely read by public policy and regulation experts in both the public and the private sectors as well as by academics in the field. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990. |
Contents
Protective Regulation and the Impasse | 3 |
Background and Research Design | 21 |
Safety Standards for Grain Elevators | 39 |
Standards for Aviation Fire Safety | 65 |
Safety Standards and Labeling Requirements | 89 |
Safety Standards for Unvented GasFired | 120 |
Public and Private Conceptions of Safety | 149 |
Public | 164 |
Explaining Regulatory Behavior | 175 |
Comparative Institutional Advantages | 193 |
The Procedural | 211 |
Interactive Strategies and Alternative Policy | 222 |
List of Interviews | 240 |
| 280 | |
| 291 | |
Other editions - View all
Setting Safety Standards: Regulation in the Public and Private Sectors Ross E. Cheit Limited preview - 1990 |
Setting Safety Standards: Regulation in the Public and Private Sectors Ross E. Cheit Limited preview - 2024 |
Setting Safety Standards: Regulation in the Public and Private Sectors Ross E. Cheit Limited preview - 2024 |
Common terms and phrases
adopted AGA Labs agencies Air Canada airlines American American Gas Association ANSI antitrust aviation fire aviation safety benefits carbon monoxide certification chimney codes Commission compliance concerns Consumer Product Safety cost-benefit analysis costs CPSC CPSC's creosote dards developed differences dust control economic equipment estimates example explosions facilities favor fire extinguishers Fire Protection fire protection engineer fire safety gas appliances gas space heaters government regulation grain elevator Halon hazards housekeeping industry injury installation Institute interests issues manufacturers National Bureau NFPA 61B NFPA standards NFPA's NTSB organizations OSHA participation percent political private sector private standards private standards-setting problem procedures product standards proposed public and private public sector public standards reasons regulatory philosophy requirements safety regulation significant smoke detectors specific stan standards-writing stove studies subcommittee suggest technical test methods testing labs tion trade association UL standard UL's Underwriters Laboratories unvented heater vented woodstoves