The case-study of the Hyatt Regency collapse might a major root cause of the bureaucracy you're describing. The change that caused the issue was approved by the engineers in that case, but I think made us a lot more instituionally cautious: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnvGwFegbC8