ALARP Principles & Guidelines

Risk reduction measures are required to be demonstrated in safety case as per Singapore WSH (MHI) Regulations. One of the key components of Safety Case is to demonstrate risk reduction to ALARP level by adopting and implementing control measures. Therefore, there is a need to understand the use of these principles with respect to the level of uncertainty and on the risk criteria. In this case-study led workshop, delegates will be taught on the key concepts, and approaches taken to demonstrate or provide evidence on ALARP. The idea behind ALARP is to demonstrate risk reductions in MHI based on reasonable practicability and gross disproportion, which is a balancing act between cost and risk. As far as the application of numerical risk criteria is concerned, it is not always correct and thus the demonstration of ALARP and the usage of risk criteria should be justified based on the categorization of risk which may be either qualitative, semi-quantitative, or quantitative. Many Countries regulate Major Hazard sites using a safety case regime based on a risk-based approach to process safety; Singapore is rolling out such a regime as mentioned. These regimes require that risk is controlled to ALARP (As Low AS Reasonably Practicable) level which is a very different approach to safety management than the compliance approach that many operators are familiar with. This course covers the important principles of ALARP, which is a commonly misunderstood concept. It discusses the variability of ALARP requirements for managing similar hazards in different circumstances and the application of risk targets. It looks at different ways of assessing risk from quantified approaches to qualitative approaches for both consequence and frequency analysis and when to use these. The application of inherent safety principles and recognised good practice are discussed along with Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) and the concepts of reasonably practicable and disproportionality. Besides demonstrating ALARP in the safety case, ALARP should be applied throughout the lifecycle of any facility. This workshop will touch on how to apply the concept in different situations such as during design, specifying instrumented safety systems, operating procedures, and coverage during maintenance of safety critical equipment. Several case studies are presented for the delegates to work through and a discussion on common errors and how the concept is often misused. Throughout this workshop, participants will be taught on how to prove that ALARP has been properly implemented as part of effective risk management and how ALARP is implemented in the design, development, and operation of engineering systems.