LEGAL QUESTIONS OF REGIONAL SAFETY PLANNING

Regional safety planning is a coherent view of safety issues that atte mpts to establish a coordinated safety policy in a region. From a lega l viewpoint this is a challenge, because traditionally the different l egal instruments are applied independently. This leads to results that are sometimes not very consistent. Regional safety planning needs coo rdination among all the involved authorities and different laws. Unlik e safety planning within a private enterprise, where all the decisions can be taken by one body, regional safety planning must take into acc ount a lot of different actors with their corresponding legal rights a nd duties. Regional safety planning is a complex task, which should be undertaken only in complex situations. The existing legal framework h as to be respected. This may lead to results that differ from those re ached from purely technical considerations, for example different risk sources may be treated differently because of different legislations, even though the risk may be the same; the results of a risk-benefit a nalysis depends on whose risks and whose benefits are taken into accou nt; and cost effectiveness cannot be applied without taking into accou nt the distribution of costs and risks. Regional safety planning must be implemented by legal means, such as regulation, economic incentives , and land-use planning. Decisions about measures to be taken must tak e into account the existing formal competences and the need for democr atic legitimation of risk-related decisions.