This paper analyses various landmark criminal cases in the Netherlands that saw individual professionals being blamed for allegedly contributing to safety-critical events occurring in the past twenty years. These cases can be seen as symbolizing an increasingly risk-averse society whose expectations of human capacity for securing safety have reached unprecedented levels. In this view, punishing professionals who make dangerous mistakes serves to re-establish the illusion of being in control and to satisfy emotions. In practice, however, the prosecution of professional error appears to be somewhat out of touch with public sentiment, as responses to the cases discussed revealed little public support and a backlash among professionals. Moreover, safety science and practice claim that punishing individual error tends to undermine safety and overemphasizes the role of individual error compared to systemic failures. This begs the question of whether criminal liability should be imposed at the system level, as recently happened when local governments were sentenced following fatalities on dangerous road spots. Sentencing ‘system administrators’ may have advantages, but probably produces negative effects as well. Therefore, it would be ideal if administrators reduced the need for resorting to criminal law by proactively and generously taking responsibility for their organisation’s share in accidents. |
Bestuurskunde
Over dit tijdschriftMeld u zich hier aan voor de attendering op dit tijdschrift zodat u direct een mail ontvangt als er een nieuw digitaal nummer is verschenen en u de artikelen online kunt lezen.
Artikel |
Veiligheid en verantwoordelijkheid in het netwerktijdperk |
Auteurs | Dr. Peter van der Knaap en Dr. Haiko van der Voort |
Artikel |
Verantwoordelijkheid, veiligheid en strafrechtOver het bestraffen van feilbaarheid |
Trefwoorden | accountability, blame, criminal law, professional error, safety |
Auteurs | Dr. mr. Willem-Jan Kortleven |
Samenvatting |
Artikel |
Hoezo zijn (on)veiligheidsbeslissingen lastig publiekelijk te verantwoorden? |
Trefwoorden | justification of risk policies, risk perception, risk acceptance, intractable citizen |
Auteurs | Prof. dr. Ira Helsloot |
Samenvatting |
This article analyses a cause for the abundance of disproportional risk policies in the Netherlands. Many policymakers and academics believe that people in the Netherlands today are so risk averse that they are not willing to accept any risk that may result from reasonable risk policies. However, as some examples that we present show, there appears to be another kind of Dutch citizen: a citizen that understands and supports the decision of authorities that increase the risk to citizens but are necessary from the perspective of the common good. We argue that the belief in the unreasonable citizen is informed by one-sided research that only asks citizens how they perceive risks and what they want as risk consumers. Asking the same respondents face-to-face what they would do as policymakers themselves, however, results in diametric answers that show a rational and social side of those respondents. Respondents give higher priority to the education system or traffic safety than to preventing unusual risks such as asbestos or terrorism to themselves. Hence, the justification of reasonable risk policies is not as difficult as generally assumed. |
Artikel |
Verantwoordelijkheid en voorzorg bij ‘de overgewichtepidemie’Onzekerheid en transparantie bij preventief leefstijlbeleid |
Trefwoorden | prevention, precaution, lifestyle policy, obesogenic society, obesity epidemic |
Auteurs | Dr. Roel Pieterman |
Samenvatting |
Since the start of the 21st century, most nations have followed the lead of the World Health Organization and developed specific policies to tackle the ‘global obesity epidemic’. The medical reasoning is that non-contagious diseases are the most important causes of mortality and morbidity, especially in prosperous nations. As these diseases are conceptualized as ‘caused’ by ‘unhealthy lifestyle choices’, there is dire need for preventive lifestyle policies that help people make ‘the healthy choice’. Seen from this perspective the distribution of responsibilities between governments and their citizens is made in accordance to the ‘intervention ladder’, which has been developed from a stewardship model. |
Artikel |
Verkeer als stelsel met stelselverantwoordelijkheid voor veiligheid?Naar een moderne governance opvatting van ‘co-responsibility’ bij stelsels |
Trefwoorden | traffic safety, systems approach, governance, co-responsibility |
Auteurs | Dr. mr. Dick Ruimschotel |
Samenvatting |
Lack of safety leading to death or injury has many aspects: personal violence, traffic, accidents at home or the work place, not to mention other external sources as radiation and fine dust or internal sources like diseases. In this paper we restrict ourselves to the lack of safety in traffic as a system, and address the following questions: (1) Is traffic a system with one dominant responsible actor (Ministry of Traffic)? (2) What explanations are offered for the lack of safety? (3) Who is responsible for safety? (4) What sort of interventions are suitable for enhancing safety? and (5) What type of process/consultancy is most appropriate for answer the preceding questions? |
Artikel |
Over sturingsmodellen, ambivalente burgers en complexe systemen in een niet-ideale wereldEen interview met Erwin Muller |
Artikel |
Het managen van incidenten in het onderwijsPraktische governance-lessen op basis van een vergelijkende case analyse |
Trefwoorden | education, near misses, culture, learning capacity |
Auteurs | drs. Peter Siep†, Dr. Dennis de Kool, Prof.dr. Victor Bekkers e.a. |
Samenvatting |
Incidents in organizations are inevitable. Sometimes these incidents get out of hand and reach the newspapers. But there are also incidents that are addressed in a timely and effective manner and do not escalate to become serious failures. Based on six concrete ‘near misses’ within the education sector, we have investigated how appropriate actions can prevent serious omissions and which mechanisms play a role in this. |
Artikel |
Burgemeester aan de schandpaalEen media-analyse naar de factoren die leiden tot het gedwongen vertrek van burgemeesters |
Auteurs | Roel Ambrosius MSc en Niels Karsten MA |
Boekbespreking |
Exploring discursive representation: Flemish agriculture as a case |
Auteurs | Maarten Crivits |
Boekbespreking |
De Waardenvolle Club: Het besturen en managen van publieke waardencreatie in voetbalorganisaties |
Auteurs | Frank van Eekeren |
Boekbespreking |
User co-production of public service delivery: Effects on trust |
Auteurs | Joost Fledderus |