The social, economic and environmental effects of natural disasters are increasing. It is widely demonstrated that the main cause is related to the climate change, and the latest predictions from the IPCC do not forecast a promising future in this regard. Numerous countries are taking actions against these challenges as the rate of occurrence and consequences are higher. The return periods of extreme climatic events are decreasing. The urbanization keeps its pace thus, more population and economic activity is allocated vulnerable areas.
The current situation in Norwegian municipalities is that they are assumed to self-regulate their safety management activities to protect against natural disasters and develop emergency preparedness systems designed to evacuate exposed population. This is a regulatory strategy being successful in the Norwegian oil and gas industry, but we raise questions towards its effectiveness in the public sector. This paper aims to analyze and contrast the traditional safety management approach seen in Norwegian municipalities with a systems theory based on Leveson's System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP). We use the landslide protection management practice in the Sandnes municipality as our case study. The analysis and comparison are a step in a wider effort to quantify the landslide occurrence likelihood given certain conditions based on data and typical causes in order to support the community in creating resilience in preparation for future landslide risks.