Some observations on the troublesome implementation of risk-based inspections in the Netherlands

Publication date: February 2020Source: Safety Science, Volume 122Author(s): Ira Helsloot, Astrid Scholtens, Jasper HaenAbstractFor more almost 15 years now the official inspection creed in the Netherlands has been that inspection should be risk based. In this article we have a first look into what has been implemented. We observe (a) that the national policy formulated in 2005 that inspections should be risk-based, step by step has been altered into a focus on indepence of inspections and stronger sanctions, (b) that only a few inspectorates claim to have implemented risk-based inspection and (c) that those inspectorates do not operate in line with their own claims. Organising risk-based inspection is clearly a challenge for Dutch inspectorates. Some barriers hindering the implementation of risk-based inspection in the Netherlands are identified. The first being that there is no consensus as to what risk actually is. A second that inspectorates actually have no incentive to implement risk-based inspection. We conclude that this line of research is necessary to better understand the implementation process of risk-based inspections in order to better use public resources.
Source: Safety Science - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research