As per our previous blog if you have areas within your business where flammable vapours, gases and dusts are present; even if only from time to time then you must consider the potential risks. This can be frightening to some businesses as they are concerned that by identifying such risks then they will have to manage them out. Their concerns are that the costs will be too high and the business will not be able to afford to implement the controls needed.
However what they need to understand is that DSEAR requires the ALARP (As low as is reasonably practicable) principle to be applied. This means that yes the business needs to control its risks but it can approach this knowing that unless the risk is unacceptably high that a range of options can be considered.
To define “ALARP “it is the region of risks that lies between unacceptably high and negligible risk levels. When the level of risk has been judged to be in this ALARP region it is still necessary to consider introducing further risk reduction measures to drive the remaining, or “residual”, risk downwards. However ALARP allows the business to factor in when the time, trouble and cost of further reduction measures become unreasonably disproportionate to the additional risk reduction obtained.
This allows the business to consider risk reduction options; including reducing risk by avoidance, adopting an alternative approach, or increasing the number and effectiveness of controls. Ultimately ALARP decision making amounts to taking a balanced view and reaching a defensible consensus.
If you require advice on how your DSEAR risks can be managed using this principle then why not have a chat with one of our highly experienced consultants?
