Overview
Over the last decades, all four branches of the transport sector (air, sea, road and rail) have undergone massive changes in response to fierce international competition and new international regulation of safety and competition. This has led to cost-cutting and new models of organization based on outsourcing and specialization.
The main problem to be addressed by the project is: How can companies and regulators work to create good framework conditions for transport safety in the context of global competition? "Framework conditions" are the conditions that influence the opportunities different actors have to keep risks under control.
It is the aim of this project to generate more distanced, research-based knowledge of the consequences of this development.
Understanding the role of framework conditions for safety involves studying three interrelated aspects: First, most actors are receivers of framework conditions, in the sense that they must adapt to framework conditions that are produced on a higher organizational or societal level. Second, they can utilize different strategies to influence and change these framework conditions. Third, most actors in the risk management chain will produce framework conditions that influence the work of other actors, i.e. they will also be senders of framework conditions themselves. All these three dimensions of framework conditions will be studied.
The project will analyse approx. 100 existing interviews, analyse existing survey and accident data, perform 5 workshops, approx. 60 interviews and arrange an international symposium on transport safety. This activity is divided into seven work packages. It is important to underline that all work packages have a parallel aim of understanding both the sector in itself, and the interrelationships and framework conditions that influences the transport system as a whole.