Reactive chemical incidents have led to numerous losses in the process industries and have affected the environment and the public. However, at present there is no real consensus on how to manage or regulate reactive chemicals. This paper analyzes 167 reactive incidents reported in a study conducted by the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). This analysis concludes that most of the information to identify and assess hazards in order to prevent incidents already existed in the literature. This paper discusses a few simple and easy approaches to access the needed hazard information. Using the described screening tools, reactive hazards can be easily identified. These tools will be especially helpful for small- or medium-sized companies who do not have extensive capabilities or resources for experimental testing. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.