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ALARP

A hazard is an object or activity that can cause adverse effects, such as slipping on water or hearing loss from loud noise. A risk is the likelihood of a hazard causing its adverse effects, which can be quantified in various ways. The terms ALARP and SFAIRP refer to the concept of managing risks to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable, allowing for flexibility in risk management while requiring judgment to determine what is considered ALARP.

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7 views1 page

ALARP

A hazard is an object or activity that can cause adverse effects, such as slipping on water or hearing loss from loud noise. A risk is the likelihood of a hazard causing its adverse effects, which can be quantified in various ways. The terms ALARP and SFAIRP refer to the concept of managing risks to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable, allowing for flexibility in risk management while requiring judgment to determine what is considered ALARP.

Uploaded by

S.Prajan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Definition of a hazard

A hazard is something (eg an object, a property of a substance, a phenomenon or an


activity) that can cause adverse effects. For example:
1. ▪ Water on a staircase is a hazard, because you could slip on it, fall and hurt
yourself.
2. ▪ Loud noise is a hazard because it can cause hearing loss.
3. ▪ Breathing in asbestos dust is a hazard because it can cause cancer.

Definition of a risk
A risk is the likelihood that a hazard will actually cause its adverse effects, together
with a measure of the effect. It is a two-part concept and you have to have both parts
to make sense of it. Likelihoods can be expressed as probabilities (eg "one in a
thousand"), frequencies (eg "1000 cases per year") or in a qualitative way (eg
"negligible", "significant", etc.).
ALARP and SFAIRP
"ALARP" is short for "as low as reasonably practicable".
"SFAIRP" is short for "so far as is reasonably practicable".
The two terms mean essentially the same thing and at their core is the concept of
"reasonably practicable"; this involves weighing a risk against the trouble, time and
money needed to control it. Thus, ALARP describes the level to which we expect to
see work place risks controlled.

How we use ALARP


Using "reasonably practicable" allows us to set goals for duty-holders, rather than
being prescriptive. This flexibility is a great advantage but it has its drawbacks, too.
Deciding whether a risk is ALARP can be challenging because it requires duty-
holders and us to exercise judgement. In the great majority of cases, we can decide
by referring to existing 'good practice' that has been established by a process of
discussion with stakeholders to achieve a consensus about what is ALARP. For high
hazards, complex or novel situations, we build on good practice, using more formal
decision-making techniques, including cost-benefit analysis, to inform our judgement.

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