On the application of analytic network process to security risk assessment of chemical facilities

In the present study, a methodology will be developed based on Analytic Network Process (ANP) to rank order security factors such as assets, threats, and consequences in chemical facilities. While different qualitative or quantitative techniques can be used to make a preliminary assessment and scoring of individual security factors, the application of ANP will facilitate the modification of the primary scores in the final decision analysis by taking into account the impact of mutual interactions among the factors. As a result, the drawbacks of current methodologies such as linearity and independency will be alleviated to a large extent. The developed methodology has been applied to a hypothetical chemical plant, identifying both the most critical assets and threats.