ABSTRACT
The chapter describes some suggestions for future work on the concept of safety culture taking the interplay between rules and behavioural routines as a starting point. It discusses the concept of safety culture, external regulation versus self-regulation that are outlined as two basic approaches to regulation, and the role of safety culture is reflected upon from these two perspectives. The chapter provides some reasons for why regulators should stay away from prescribing, monitoring and enforcing cultural norms and assumptions, but should rather focuses their activities on the more accessible and malleable elements of safety management systems. An important distinction to make in any discussion of safety is that between process safety and personal safety. In process safety, the risks and uncertainties to be managed are directly linked to the primary work process of the organization, such as curing patients, producing energy or transporting goods and people.
