Today is World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Large though its theme is, this year it stands under the shadow of the massive loss of life on Malaysia Airlines Flight 70 and on the Sewol ferry. They are massive monuments to the importance we give to safety and try to build in the workplace.
It is shown, too, in the anger and distress of the relatives of people who died in the disasters, when they believe, fairly or unfairly, that health and safety have not been duly respected.
It would be unfeeling and presumptuous to speculate on the causes of the ferry disaster. It is a time for grief and sympathy. But it may be helpful to enumerate the questions that have been asked, not to resolve them, but to see the panorama of factors on which health and safety depend.
Some of these questions concern the business that ran the ferry: the ethical qualities of its owners, the safety of its adaptation for the route between Incheon and Jeju, the procedures observed in stowing vehicles and other cargo in the hold, the priorities given to prompt departure and arrival over other concerns, and the training and clear allocation of responsibility to those crewing the ferry. These questions inevitably also touch the adequacy and implementation of regulation, inspection and compliance measures provided by the government.
Other questions concern the conduct of the ship during the crisis: the responsibility of the captain in dangerous waters, his responsibility to passengers in the event of danger, the allocation of responsibilities to the junior officers, the readiness of the crew for times of emergency, the responsibility of coastguards and other ships, and the clarity of communication on and from the ferry.
As with the MH370, many people have questioned the engagement with the families of passengers during the emergency, and whether they received adequate support and honest and up to date information.
These questions will surely be treated exhaustively in a full enquiry. But even when they are asked they disclose a pattern. In travel by plane or by ship, as in many other enterprises, there are two different sets of interests: the operational interests of those who provide the service, and the interests of those who benefit from the service. Companies ideally take both with complete seriousness, of course, but they stand in some tension.
The interests of the companies that provide travel and their officers are more