2021 – Demonstrating SFAIRP

Richard M Robinson, Siraj Perera, Gaye Francis

SFAIRP (so far as is reasonably practicable) is the ‘modern’ definition of ‘safe’. Shrouded in the legal
concept of the ‘safety case’, it is actually the judicial form of the principle of reciprocity – the golden rule – do unto others, incorporated into the common law by the Brisbane born English law lord, Lord Atkin in 1932.

In dam safety terms, it asks the question; “If you lived downstream of a dam, how would you expect the dam to be designed, operated and maintained in order for it to be considered safe?”

The answer is that it now requires a public demonstration that all reasonably practicable precautions are in place in a way that satisfies the will of our parliaments and our sovereign’s courts, otherwise known as a SFAIRP safety case.