Alice's Adventures in Volcano Land: The Use and Abuse of Expert Knowledge in Safety Regulation

• Published in: European Journal of Risk Regulation
• Main Author: Brannigan, Vincent M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2010
• Subjects: Safety Research; Law; Eyjafjallajökull
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1867299x00000192; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1867299X00000192

As a volcano refugee in Frankfurt, it was rather interesting to see a slow motion regulatory science disaster taking place. On April 14 2010 the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted sending millions of tons of ash into the upper atmosphere. The ash cloud, blown by the prevailing winds, moved down over northern Europe. European air traffic authorities, following well established and widely published safety protocols, began shutting down the air transport system due to the well known hazard of volcano ash. The shutdown lasted 6 days and soon became an unequal political contest between airline money on the one side and regulatory science on the other. In a classic case of shooting the messenger bringing bad news the responsible airline parties tried to shift the blame for shutdown to the regulators, while nervous governments quailed before the bullying of the airline executives.