I think what the GP may be getting at, with respect to building codes, is that while some of them are valid safety concerns, there's a lot of them that can be a

I think what the GP may be getting at, with respect to building codes, is that while some of them are valid safety concerns, there's a lot of them that can be attributed to "regulatory capture" -- At least here in the US, I've lived in one jurisdiction where residential electrical (120V 15/20A circuits) was mostly required to be in metal conduit (EMT or better). Elsewhere in the country, as long as it's in a wall, type NM cable (insulated solid conductors in a plastic jacket) is acceptable in the same situation. The only explanation I ever heard for this was that we were in the suburbs of a city where unions had historically lobbied for certain practices in electrical and plumbing work that guaranteed more labor had to be done. (I'm not trying to make a comment about unions here, corporations are responsible for many similar situations in US law.)