Anomaly in safety management: Is it constantly possible to make safety compatible with economy?

Abstract

Although it is clear that we must satisfy both economy and safety, we sometimes place more emphasis on economy than safety, which leads to a critical disaster or crash. The reason must be identified for the further enhancement of safety. This study explored why one cannot satisfy both economy and safety. We attempted to explain the reason using the collapse model of proper balance between safety and economy (efficiency) induced by the following cognitive biases: (i) mental accounting, (ii) loss aversion, and (iii) discount of safety. The measure or remedy of this collapse of the proper balance between safety and economy (efficiency) was proposed as (a) disclosure system, (b) commitment approach to safety, and (c) mechanism design.