Revolutionizing safety and security in the chemical and process industry: applying the CHESS concept

This paper argues that a new concept, summarized as ‘CHESS’, should be used in the chemical industry to further substantially advance safety (where we use the term in a broad sense, that is, safety and physical security, amongst others). The different domains that need to be focused upon, and where innovative initiatives should be taken are Cluster-thinking and cooperation, High transparency and efficient inspections, Education and training, Security integration, and Safety innovation. Since society has fundamentally changed over the last two decades, and ever more hazardous materials are used in chemical sites which are ever more closely situated next to highly-populated areas, revolutionizing safety via the CHESS concept is truly needed in the very near future, both from a safety and a security point of view.