ALARP – Being Considerate or Lazy?

There’s a term in safety in railway, called ALARP, which stands for As Low As Reasonably Practicable, in the sense that people in the railway need to make the risks as low as possible, considering the effort needed. For example if the cost is too high to reduce a risks, such as designing a train being able to withstand a comet falling from the sky, then it can be said that by ‘invoking’ ALARP, we need not make the train to be as strong as an apocalypse bunker. It’s easy for outrageous things or hazards from the end of the spectrum, but what if it is a hazard that has a higher probability of happening?

No easy answer and I think most back and forth is normally about implementing or applying this concept. It frustrates me sometimes. A common analogy would be when we are asked to do a task, and when asked when is it needed, the answer is ASAP. What does as soon as possible mean? If I drop this sandwich I am eating, then I can do it right now. That’s possible. Or how about this week I am not in the mood, so next week will be the earliest possible? Is that acceptable? The key here is judgment. If you gave the reason you are not in the mood yet, that’s why the task is not done ASAP, then you will most likely be out of job soon. But if you keep dropping your sandwich every time people asked you to do something, the floor will be full of sandwich and you’ll be hungry.

Similarly in applying ALARP, there is a time and place to say that we have done enough and things are ALARP. And there are times that we need to put more effort into the considerations.

Thank you for reading.