My main point [as the person who lobbed the depth charge in and then went silent for 24hrs(!)] was the public and industry reaction to the use of the precautionary principle by the appropriate authorities. As has been pointed out, volcanoes do not create ash clouds that affect air travel that often and, in the absence of any firm evidence about safe flying levels in clouds that were not visible to the naked eye, the decision was made to stop flights until more information was known. This reaction is interesting given recent occurences where people have called for the implementation of the precautionary principle (PP) when scientific knowledge is called into question e.g. swine flu, MMR etc.
My comment about the airlines not having taken steps to determine safe flying levels arises from their strong criticism of the use of the precautionary principle and links to Health and Safety law in the UK which rests on the phrases "practicably reasonable" i.e. what practicable reasonable steps could be taken to protect the safety of passengers. So, given the 1982 incident, and assuming that an aircraft had actually been troubled by ash it was flying through in this case, the Health and Safety Executive would be asking, is it foreseeable that planes might fly into ash clouds again? Then have all reasonably practicable steps been taken to mimise risk. So, in the absence of any verified safe limits for fluing in ash, the only reasonably practicable step to ensure passenger safety is to ground the planes. I am fully aware that airline companies (as with all induustries) do not want to spend more money than necessary, but if the airline companies want to have the right to complain about these steps then they should be undertaking the necessary reasonably practicable measures to identify safe levels. This is why I brought this into the discussion as part of the reaction to the use of the precautionary principle.
By the way, the use of the precautionary principle is part of EU law for environmental and consumer protection laws amongst others.
Bruce
**********************************************************************
1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example,
send an email to mailto:[log in to unmask] with the following message:
set psci-com nomail -- [include hyphens]
2. To resume email from the list, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message:
set psci-com mail -- [include hyphens]
3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message:
leave psci-com -- [include hyphens]
4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html
5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk
6. To contact the Psci-com list owner, please send an email to mailto:[log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
|