When evaluating new products submitted for approval for use
on commercial and recreational vessels, the U.S. Coast Guard
judges them against "technical standards."
This means that the product's design, materials and
manufacturing or construction methods used must generally
conform to the existing standards for similar products that
have already been approved. If a manufacturer's product stays
within this rather narrow area that the Coast Guard is already
comfortable with, then approval usually isn't terribly
difficult. But venture out into the uncharted waters of
innovation, and a dark cloud forms that makes forward progress
very difficult.
It seems that the Coast Guard isn't very interested in
approving anything that's new.
The net result of the Coast Guard's current
technical-standards-driven system is that while it may strictly
ensure that all existing items meet the current minimum
standards, it makes it exceedingly difficult to introduce
innovation and any major advancements to the marketplace. It
effectively stalls what should otherwise be a long-term, steady
progression of technological breakthroughs and simultaneously
gives established companies a huge advantage by limiting
competition from smaller - and often more forward thinking -
companies that are trying to break into the market.
It's safe to say that lives have been lost unnecessarily
because of it.
On the other hand, a performance-standards-based system
would be more concerned with how well things actually work, or
don't work, when used as intended in real-world conditions
encountered by mariners. Then, such things as safety of
materials and design would be looked at. In other words, it's
arriving at the desired destination that should count the most,
not whether you followed the existing path to get there. Such a
system would spur both innovation and competition, provide a
much more level playing field, and reward the entrepreneurial
spirit that the country was built on.
The big question is why anyone in his or her right mind
would want to keep the ponderous, unresponsive system like the
one we've got in place?