What does “reasonably practicable” mean?

What is reasonably practicable?

This is what’s known as a qualified duty under legislation; simply put, it allows you to justify why you choose control measures to reduce the risk to your workforce. This is the lowest level of legal duty and allows you to balance the outcome of the risk against the cost involved in reducing it. If the cost outweighs the risk reduction gained and is obstructive for your business, then it’s not reasonably practicable to use that control and alternatives need to be considered.

Costs include

It’s not just financial implications that are to be considered. Costs also include the time it takes to implement the risk reduction measure. You need to consider the inconvenience of implementation, e.g. will you have to change processes to accommodate a new type of guard which might make cleaning more difficult? You also need to consider the effort to maintain the measure on an ongoing basis, such as training, licences, daily check sheets and statutory inspections for certain types of equipment.

Tip. Whilst there is no control in place, your staff remain at risk. Consider implementing a short-term, temporary control measure , such as signage or a toolbox talk, during the interim period.

How to apply this?

When considering what to do it’s sensible to look at the hierarchy of controls, sometimes referred to as eliminate, reduce/substitute, isolate, control, PPE, discipline (ERICPD). This suggests that you eliminate the hazard if you can, but if you can’t you should substitute or reduce the hazard. Isolating hazards is the next step and then investigating what engineering controls are available to you. These controls are considered to be engineering solutions as they affect everyone who may be present and are therefore the strongest level of control.

Cleaning materials example

An example of applying ERICPD to be so far as is reasonably practicable is the use of cleaning materials. You cannot eliminate using these, but you may be able to substitute bleach for a safer alternative which still meets your cleaning needs.

You could clean out of hours to isolate workers from the chemical or you may be able to wipe a solution and not spray it which reduces the likelihood of the chemical being inhaled. Discipline is safe systems of work and training, and PPE can be the final barrier to protect against the chemical in use.

Additional measures

If you can do more, you should. We are talking about a minimum standard here, so it’s always best to go beyond that to demonstrate to your staff, your insurance company and enforcing authorities that you are serious about safety.

This means not always going for the quickest and cheapest control. Showing that you are thinking ahead and balancing the needs of now and the future sends a strong message of safety and compliance to your workforce and other interested parties.