For instance hospitals (and some industries) measure sentinel events [1][2]. Sentinel events cause death or serious permanent injury, or events that could cause death or serious permanent injury.

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel_event

2: I couldn't find a reference for industry, but I know they are recorded because I went through the training.

I think it's a large part of why the US airline industry has become so much safer over time. Having a lower-bound number for altitude overshoots or communication problems is immensely useful for policy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Safety_Reporting_Syste...

Programs like this are why much of the worlds airlines are safer. It's not a US only thing.

This sounds like focusing only on benefits and ignoring costs. That rarely leads to good overall outcomes.

This is a very useful mental error to be able to spot. A very common argument is "X has a clear benefit, so we should do it!". The benefit is absolutely real, but you also need to look at the costs to make a good decision.

Another failure mode is risk aversion. If the FDA approves something that turns out to kill 1000 people, they get in much worse media and political trouble than if they don't approve something that would have saved 1,000,000 lives. So they focus hard on costs and less on benefits.