If you're a chief or even just medium exec at your company, and you can either a) save some money and expect to be rewarded with a big fat bonus to buy yourself a yacht with, or b) follow stringent regulations without anyone noticing, commending or even rewarding you for it. Which of the two are you going to do? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
So no, it's not "pipeline workers" being "lazy", just like Boeing does have good engineers, as several leaks have proven. Those same leaks also prove that Boeing unfortunately also has some execs that prefer the short cut to the life saving high road.
And all those federal regulation bodies basically do what the moneybags tell them to. Not least because they can then switch careers and get rewarded with big fat paychecks from the very people they were supposed to keep an eye on.
It's always funny, yet simultaneously sad, to see real people being willing and enthusiastic tools for mega-corporations. Keep it up, buckos!
Optio, Legio I Latina