ABSTRACT
In one form or another, regulators are essential components of complex systems. They provide a degree of assurance to the public that the complex systems it depends upon are safe, and they regulate the systems to ensure that minimum standards of safe operation are maintained. Regardless of the complexity of a particular system or a system with operational safety measures with which people may be unfamiliar, a government agency is typically responsible for overseeing the safety of the system. Whether one boards an airplane or a ferry, or turns on an electrical appliance that receives its electrical power from nuclear energy, an agency of some kind regulates the particular industry. Throughout the world, some level of independent supervision and inspection of complex systems has become expected. In the United States, with some exceptions, federal agencies carry out the oversight. In Australia, individual states oversee the railroads.
