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Safety issue in a chemical plant is absolutely critical because loss of control can result in a catastrophic consequence which is not limited to the boundaries of the plant. Thus, a risk assessment system is required for (a) preventing accidents by anticipation, (b) surviving disturbances by recovery, and (c) handling disruptive events by adaptation. RE is a proactive approach claiming to achieve all these objectives. The present research tries to identify challenges in the procedure of building RE and its adaptive capacity in a chemical plant. Primary data were collected through on-site observations and interviewing personnel. The results indicated the main challenges could be classified into nine categories of: lack of explicit experience about RE, intangibility of RE level, choosing production over safety, lack of reporting systems, ‘religious beliefs’, out-of-date procedures and manuals, poor feedback loop, and economic …