A weighted fuzzy Petri-net based approach for security risk assessment in the chemical industry

•A weighted fuzzy Petri-net (WFPN) based security risk assessment approach is proposed in this paper.•This approach can model the importance of risk factors and their different relationships.•The analysis method of Petri-nets can be used to perform the security risk assessment.•Two WFPN models of security risk assessment are established according to different relationships between the factors.•A matrix operation based security risk inference method is developed.

As large amounts of hazardous chemicals are handled in the petrochemical industries, the plants in these industries are attractive for terrorists because they can cause great losses and have important social impact. Security risk assessment is important to determine the risk level of a plant in order to take targeted measures to reduce the security risk. Based on Security Risk Factor Table (SRFT) which covers the essential elements for the security risk assessment, a weighted fuzzy Petri-net (WFPN) based security risk assessment approach is proposed in this paper. This approach can easily model different relationships between the risk factors as well as their importance, and use the analysis method of Petri-nets to perform the risk assessment. Two WFPN models of security risk assessment are established according to different relationships between the factors, and a matrix operation based security risk inference method is developed. An illustrative example is used to demonstrate the approach. The results show that correctly determining and modeling the relationships among the risk factors is important to assess the security risk.