In the United States, and Australia, much has been said or inferred recently about aviation regulators who either overtly or covertly enter into "partnerships" with those whom they are supposed to be regulating.  Often this results in the regulator landing in hot water (or should I say encountering air turbulance), when its ultimate master, the Government, responds to pressure from the general public.

"Partner" is a word that in the regulatory context, has some unfortunate connotations, such as, being overly collaborative, captured by the industry, a softly softly approach, regulator timidity etc.  The concept is understandable however, and within reason, entirely appropriate for some aviation regulatory functions in the 21 st. century.  A partnership however, when used in other social contexts, infers equal shares, equal accountability and equal benefit.  Whilst this may be the case in business or a modern marriage, it is not and can never be so for a safety regulator.  

Words are mankind's invention for conveying a concept or idea, however, the reverse can also be true.  The continual use of a word can drive the concept and behaviours.  In other words, using the "P" word often enough to audiences who are not intimate with the concept can drive conventional partnerlike behaviours.  "Partnership" is an unfortunate word, and a more appropriate one should be found.

More significantly, a regulator who uses this word indiscriminately or thoughlessly, may do so because they have not clearly identified who is their ultimate customer and distinguished the difference between customer, client and other stakeholders.  This is fundamental because these distinctions are what should drive the underlying regulatory approach.  Customers, clients and other stakeholders often have different expectations of the regulator.

The enacting legislation should enable the regulator to clearly identify the ultimate customer and their expectations.  Good legislation may also give similar high level guidance about other stakeholders.  A regulator must fully understand who's who and establish approriate regulatory approaches which satisfy expectations.  This often results in a sophisticated balancing act, and everyone knows that it is not easy.  A niaive biais of concentration on other stakeholders however, fails to recognise that it is the customer who ultimately pays the piper and gets to call the tune!