ALARP/SFAIRP – One brain, three minds and satisficing

by Bernard Corden

The following schematic may assist in explaining the objective and rational ALARP/SFAIRP approach and actual performance:

ALARP/SFAIRP is an objective test but is unsurprisingly littered with enough subjective terminology to keep a Philadelphia lawyer happy.

The initial response is often fast, arational and subliminal using Mind 2. The feedback loop then uses Mind 3 and satisficing starts with heuristics. (see https://safetyrisk.net/the-triarchic-mind-risk-and-safety/)

Much of the effort that goes into ALARP/SFAIRP is misplaced, especially using the risk matrix.

The task is not to decide how much risk is tolerable or to select a cell in the risk matrix, it is to determine the acceptable standard of risk control measure