Determining the

Acceptability of Risk
Brieng
Health & Safety Brieng No. 36
May 2012
www.theiet.org
This brieng relates to UK legislation and its terminology.
Did you know
The Health and Safety Executive has developed an approach for helping to determine the acceptability of risk. This Tolerability of
Risk framework is illustrated in Fig 1, below
Fig 1: HSE framework for Tolerability of Risk
The triangle represents increasing levels of risk for a particular hazardous activity (measured by the individual risks and societal
concerns it engenders) as we move from the bottom of the triangle (as drawn above) towards the top.
The top zone represents an unacceptable region. For practical purposes, a particular risk falling into that region is
regarded as unacceptable whatever the level of benets associated with the activity.
The middle zone is known as the tolerable or ALARP: http://www.theiet.org/factles/health/hsb17-page.cfm region. Risks
in that region are typical of the risks from activities that people are prepared to tolerate in order to secure benets.
In this region, regulators will require risks to be further reduced if it is reasonably practicable to do so. As low as is
reasonably practicable (AFAIRP or ALARP) is an established concept in UK Health and Safety law. The HSEs view of risk
is presented in the document Reducing Risks Protecting People (R2P2 see http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/theory/r2p2.
pdf, appendix 3).
The bottom zone represents a broadly acceptable region. Risks falling into this region are generally regarded as
acceptable if adequately controlled. Regulators would not usually require further action to reduce risks unless
reasonably practicable measures are available. The need to ensure that all reasonably practicable steps have been
taken is a legal requirement, irrespective of the level of risk. The levels of risk characterising this region are comparable
to those that people regard as insignicant or trivial in their daily lives.
The above approach is a conceptual model. Moreover, the factors and processes that ultimately decide whether a risk
is unacceptable, tolerable or broadly acceptable are dynamic in nature and are sometimes governed by the particular
circumstances, time and environment in which the activity giving rise to the risk takes place. For example, standards change,
public expectations change with time, what is unacceptable in one society may be tolerable in another, and what is tolerable may
differ in peace or war. Nevertheless, the framework provides an approach that tries to reect public concerns and obtain the best
return on efforts to improve health and safety and drives for greater consistency in regulation. The approach should ensure that
in practice, risks are controlled to such a degree that the residual risk is driven down the tolerable range so that it falls either in
the broadly acceptable region or is near the bottom of the tolerable region, in keeping with the overriding requirement in UK law to
ensure health, safety and welfare so far as is reasonably practicable - see brief http://www.theiet.org/factles/health/hsb17-page.
cfm.
The boundaries between the three regions in Fig 1 may depend on various factors, but the HSE suggest that the boundary
between the unacceptable and tolerable regions might be at a risk of death of 1 in one thousand for workers and 1 in ten
thousand for members of the public. The boundary between the tolerable and broadly acceptable regions might be at a risk of
death of 1 in one million for both groups.
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Further Information
Reducing Risks Protecting People, HSEs Decision Making Process. 2001 ISBN 0 7176 2151 0 see: http://www.hse.gov.uk/
risk/theory/r2p2.pdf
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 SI 1974/1439 The Stationery Ofce 1974 ISBN 0 11 141439 X
Management of Health and Safety at work. Management of Health and Safety at work Regulations 1999. Approved Code of
Practice. L21 (second edition) HSE Books 2000 ISBN 9780717624881 see: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l21.pdf
The IET is unable to provide further information on this topic. Please contact the HSE. http://www.hse.gov.uk
These Briengs contain a summary of recent Health & Safety issues, provided for general information purposes only, and should
not be relied upon as legal advice. The IET has tried to make the Briengs accurate and informative, but they have not been
prepared by a lawyer and may not constitute an up-to-date summary of the law. The IET accepts no liability for your use of these
Briengs. Further details and information on broader Health & Safety issues can be obtained from the Governments Health and
Safety Executive. Legal advice should be obtained on any specic issues.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology is registered as a Charity in England & Wales (no 211014) and Scotland (no SC038698).
The IET 2012
Brieng
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