Following regulations and guidelines will not reduce productivity

There is always a tussle between the production manager and that of safety / regulator. It may not appear openly, but in private discussions, this is the reality. Each will have choicest words or opinions about the other.

When role reversal happens, they will assume new position and behave accordingly. This is because of short term / immediate gains one may achieve by overlooking SOPs or due to the infrequent losses suffered from incidents/accidents by not following safety which they feel that it can be absorbed.

Production managers realize only when the losses are huge and may lead to framing of charges or closure of the factory. But, it will be late.

It is proven that following safety always makes sense and leads to increase in productivity.
And this can be made realized by charging penalties on every violation from the salary of the individuals and as a percentage of turnover  of the factory.

This will help in creating work atmosphere safe as well as for public also and at the same time will make others to learn from the sufferers.

Wrong message to public / industries with passive / lethargic attitude of regulators

It is difficult for a traffic police person to control all violators due to his/her limitations in managing them. A person can't stop all violators passingby. Similarly a regulatory authority person can't inspect all factories all the time or keep watch on activities and take action. It is humanly impossible.

But, whatever is observed and is within the approach, regulatory personnel should take to task. For whatever reasons, let it be frustration or personal, if even these observed violations are not tasked, then the violators will of the impression that they can get away and the chance of penalty or regulatory action is minimal.

As regulators are paid for ensuring prevention of violations, whatever comes to notice has to be regulated. Atleast this type of actions will send message that one can't go scotfree. 

Better results for voluntary compliance instead of enforcement

Many times we do things because we were told to do so. Else, there may be repercussions in the form of penalties or punishment. When we work in such an environment, at the slightest opportunity, we try to avoid, which otherwise the enforcing agency (parents/boss/regulator/police/court/etc) wants us to do. This way things will not yield good results in the long term because it is not coming from our heart. This is because either we did not understand why somebody is asking us to do in particular manner or we had wrong perceptions. If somebody asked us to do in a particular fashion, let us try to understand why? It is the experience of somebody, somewhere. We need not learn again by doing things in a wrong manner and get affected whatever the loss others suffered. This is called learning from history. Rules and regulations are nothing but experiences (bad and good) of so many over a long period.
When we make voluntary efforts without others saying so, we can see positive developments in our work atmosphere. Because we fail to do so, rules and regulations have come and this is the first stage in the line of growth. When we comply with all statutory requirements, we can set our own goals much better than statutes and improve further. This is the second stage. When we repeat this towards better workplace, we can become role model in our industry / region. This is the third stage. These three stages are discussed in detail in INSAG-15 document (International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group).
Many of us are in the first stage for so many decades. Though we obtain certifications for compliance with ISO/OHSAS/IS/BS/FDA, etc, still at heart, we like to bypass procedures and this does not augur well for us as individuals and the organization, as a whole. We think government organizations does not have any dearth of funds and thus they can implement this philosophy. Similarly, we think private organizations are profit oriented and thus do not like to spend. But both are wrong perceptions. There good and bad organizations both in government and private sectors.
It is 'I' who matters in implementation. This I is everybody from top to bottom. The top management should know about rules and regulations and a vision to ensure safety at the work place. And they should convey their intentions to down below and allocate required resources with rewards and punishments to ensure safety.
As long as I am not convinced, I try to do things other way and continue to suffer myself and as a consequence, I put the organization also in a fix not to grow. It is said that safety is not costly, but in fact it is free when implemented in full. It also fetches returns over a long period of time. Just we do not have enough patience to wait for and want to see the results immediately which is not possible. One year when we work with good production, no accidents, better profits, we claim that our work only fetched results and next year when it does not repeat, we blame all sundry instead of taking responsibility for the same. One should realize that our today's results are hard work of somebody in the past.