ALARP: Friend or Foe? When the Decision Isn't Enough

Making an ALARP decision is only half the challenge. The other half is being able to demonstrate how and why that decision was made.

Years after a plug and abandonment programme has been completed, regulators, auditors, partners or internal stakeholders may need to understand the rationale behind a particular course of action. Yet too often, the supporting information lives in meeting notes, spreadsheets, emails or the memories of people who have since moved on.

Without clear decision provenance, organisations risk losing valuable knowledge and introducing uncertainty into future work.

DecomX addresses this by creating a complete digital record of the decision-making process. Assumptions, evaluations, alternatives considered and final outcomes are all captured and traceable.

This delivers several benefits:

• Consistent and standardised reporting

• Full auditability of decisions

• Improved knowledge retention

• Faster onboarding of new personnel

• Greater confidence during reviews and assurance activities

Most importantly, it means the reasoning behind a decision is never lost, because in decommissioning, the ability to explain a decision can be just as important as the decision itself.

Could your organisation easily explain the rationale behind every major P&A decision made over the last five years?