Risk Assessment
What is ALARP? As Low As Reasonably Practicable Explained
Vinit Pandey · Published 21 November 2025 · Updated 28 June 2026
In short: ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) is a risk tolerability principle requiring that risk be reduced until the cost of further reduction becomes grossly disproportionate to the safety benefit gained.
Key takeaways
- Three risk bands: intolerable, ALARP (reduce unless grossly disproportionate cost), broadly acceptable
- Originates in UK health and safety law, now used worldwide including India's MAH regulatory practice
- Demonstrated via documented gap analysis and cost-benefit reasoning
- A recurring deliverable in QRA studies and Major Accident Hazard safety reports
ALARP originates in UK health and safety law and has become the dominant tolerability framework referenced in QRA and safety case regimes worldwide, including in India's evolving major hazard regulatory practice.
Under the ALARP framework, risk levels are divided into three bands: an upper region of intolerable risk that must be reduced regardless of cost, a middle ALARP region where risk reduction is required unless costs are grossly disproportionate to benefit, and a broadly acceptable region requiring no further action.
Demonstrating ALARP typically involves a documented gap analysis of available risk reduction measures, followed by cost-benefit reasoning — sometimes using formal cost-per-life-saved calculations — to justify which measures are and are not implemented.
ALARP demonstration is a recurring deliverable in QRA studies, safety reports for Major Accident Hazard units, and SIL target-setting exercises.
ALARP risk bands