Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards: Chemical Security Assessment Tool

On April 9, 2007, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS). Congress authorized this interim final rule (IFR) under Section 550 of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007, directing the Department to identify, assess, and ensure effective security at high-risk chemical facilities. To that end, the Department will require these facilities to conduct a security vulnerability assessment (SVA) and then develop and implement a site security plan (SSP), implementing site-specific security measures that meet the Risk Based Performance Standards (RBPS) that the Department identified in the interim final rule.

The Department developed the Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) to identify facilities that meet the Department's criteria for high-risk chemical facilities as well as to provide the methodology these facilities need to conduct SVAs and to develop SSPs. CSAT is a secure web-based system that includes a suite of four tools: (1) facility registration; (2) a Top-Screen questionnaire; (3) a SVA tool; and (4) a SSP template.

The Department encourages facilities to register on the CSAT website for a user identification and password if they believe they may be covered by this regulation. To register, facilities should go to www.dhs.gov/chemicalsecurity and follow the instructions. Once the Department validates a facility's registration, it will notify the facility about how to access the other CSAT tools.

Facilities that are contacted by the Department, either by letter or through a Federal Register notice, must complete the CSAT Top-Screen. In addition, following the Department's publication of a final Appendix A listing the DHS Chemicals of Interest, all facilities that possess any of the DHS Chemicals of Interest in quantities at or above the listed Screening Threshold Quantities (STQs) will have to complete a CSAT Top-Screen. The Top-Screen asks a series of questions regarding the chemical(s) manufactured, processed, used, stored at or distributed by the facility, in order to determine whether the facility meets the Department's definition of a "high risk" facility. Facilities that meet this definition will be placed in one of four tiers.

The Department will require facilities preliminarily placed into Tiers 1-3 to complete a CSAT SVA. The results of the SVA will enable the Department to place high risk chemical facilities into tiers based on specific security concerns including off-site release, theft or diversion, and sabotage or contamination. The Department will also work to identify facilities responsible for economically critical chemicals and to reflect this fact in the tiering determination. The RBPS that a facility must meet will depend upon its tier and the security concerns surrounding its assets.

Finally, facilities must develop SSPs, which the Department will review and approve. The SSPs will describe security measures (both physical and procedural) in place as well as the measures a facility plans to implement in order to fulfill the applicable RBPS. Facilities are to use the CSAT SSP template for submitting an SSP unless they qualify to use an approved Alternative Security Program (ASP).

Section 550 explicitly prohibits the Department of Homeland Security from disapproving a Site Security Plan “based on the presence or absence of a particular security measure,” including inherently safer technologies (IST).  Accordingly, the Department may not require that a facility use IST in order to comply with the CFATS.  Nevertheless, covered facilities are free to consider any and all measures, including IST options, as a means of reducing security risks at their facilities, provided they do not transfer the risk off the facility.

For more information on CFATS, please refer to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards.