COLREG-72 - best maritime convention. why?

If there were an award for the best maritime convention, my choice would definitely be COLREG-72.

Think about it:

 • It was written 50 years ago.

 • It has 41 rules and just 20 pages.

 • It regulates the movement of thousands of vessels around the world every day.

 • Just follow it, and you’re 99% safe.

Now imagine if COLREG were written today—how many hundreds of regulations would it have? Thousands of pages?

Some work permits and risk assessments are longer than all of COLREG combined.

I understand where this over-checklist culture comes from, for what kind of professionals, but I don’t get why it’s so widely accepted and approved.

When I see some of the deficiencies raised by private ranking companies, a risk assessment for something as basic as a toilet no longer feels like a joke.