Overview

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.

List of Case Studies & ALARP Principles
This workshop is designed to be interactive with participants getting to join in the discussion and will get to share and contribute his work experience for common learning experience. The trainer will provide and share a list of case studies to participants and it draws from his previous and present work experience when he works on ALARP and a list of some of his case studies is as follows:

• Varying ALARP requirements – Tank Farm overfill
• Applying Inherent Safety principles in ALARP – Solvents tank farm

No industrial activity is entirely free from risk and so many companies and regulators around the world require that safety risks are reduced to levels that are As Low as Reasonably Practicable (ALARP). The ‘ALARP’ region lies somewhere between unacceptably high and negligible risk levels. Even if a level of risk has been judged to be in the ‘ALARP’ region, it is still necessary to consider introducing further risk reduction measures to drive the remaining risks downward. Keeping ‘As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP)’is an essential part of mechanical engineering across all major industries. The application of the ALARP framework varies depending on the technical and economic context. The ALARP level is reached when the time, trouble and cost of further reduction measures become unreasonably disproportionate to the additional risk reduction obtained. However, during operations, the attention is on collecting feedback, improving procedures and managing change to maintain the residual risk at an ALARP level and the ALARP today may not be the ALARP tomorrow and hence, periodic review is necessary. In Singapore, process safety is covered under the WSH Act and specifically under the following regulations:

• WSH (Risk Management) Regulations
• WSH (General Provisions) Regulations
• WSH (Registration of Factories) Regulations
• WSH (Safety and Health Management System) Regulations
• Recently WSH (Major Hazard Installations) Regulations

With the recently enacted WSH (Major Hazards Installations) Regulations, companies are now required to draft and submit safety case to Major Hazards Department, Ministry of Manpower in order to obtain Major Hazard Installation certificate of registration. In the safety case, companies are required to submit PHA study and in it, is the is the ALARP Demonstration.

Who Should Attend

Engineers, Executives, Supervisors, and Managers especially those who work in Technical & Planning, Production/Operation, Engineering, and SHE departments in Refinery, Chemicals, and Petrochemical settings will benefit by attending this course.

Potential attendees are listed out as follow:

• Process Engineer
• Process Champion
• EHS Engineer
• Production Engineer
• Production Supervisor
• Maintenance Engineer
• Operations Engineer
• Mechanical Engineer
• Piping Engineer
• Production Manager
• Technical Manager
• Technical Development Manager

Key Learning Objectives

• LEARN the essential principles of ALARP and how it fits within a Safety Case
• GAIN the key concepts of ALARP principles and the fundamental approaches for its applications
• KNOW the HSE principles for Cost Benefit Analyses (CBA) in support of ALARP decisions
• UNDERSTAND the approaches to good practice and to demonstrate ALARP using different decision making criteria
• ACQUIRE tools and techniques to determine factors in selecting or rejecting control measures
• With each process deviation, APPLY the concept of ALARP (As Low as Reasonably Practicable) or risk elimination on the causes and consequences
• BECOME familiar with PHA study, its context in WSH Act and its relation in Safety Case regime
• Exercise CAUTION in regards to reverse ALARP whereby CBA or QRA is used to justify higher risk

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