page_title: ALARP
section_title: Carrot diagrams
hierarchical_section_title: ALARP / Carrot diagrams
caption_attribution_description: English: David W. Legg Original work, based upon R2P2 advice from UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). [1]
context_page_description: ALARP, which stands for "as low as reasonably practicable", or ALARA, is a term often used in the regulation and management of safety-critical and safety-involved systems. The ALARP principle is that the residual risk shall be reduced as far as reasonably practicable. In UK and NZ Health and Safety law, it is equivalent to SFAIRP.
  For a risk to be ALARP, it must be possible to demonstrate that the cost involved in reducing the risk further would be grossly disproportionate to the benefit gained. The ALARP principle arises from the fact that infinite time, effort and money could be spent in the attempt of reducing a risk to zero. It should not be understood as simply a quantitative measure of benefit against detriment. It is more a best common practice of judgement of the balance of risk and societal benefit.
context_section_description: The carrot diagram is intended to show high (normally unacceptable) risks at the upper/wider end and low (broadly acceptable) risks at the lower/narrower end. The region in between is sometimes called the "ALARP region". However, this is misleading because there is no legal requirement for risks to be tolerable, nor any recognition that low risks may be regarded as broadly acceptable. ALARP refers to the principle of testing further risk reduction against the cost of this reduction effort. It therefore applies to all regions, so the diagram is a misinterpretation of UK law.
caption: ALARP carrot diagram
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