Planning risk analyses within complex chemical industrial surroundings form an integral part of management of change procedures of chemical plants. From a social as well as an economic perspective, it is important for the risk analysis planning to be both effective and efficient. This paper discusses the elaboration of a framework which can easily be used within a complex chemical facility for optimizing risk analysis planning considering both process and non-process risks. Furthermore, legislative requirements as well as optimizing company guidelines for risk analysis reviews are integrated into the framework. During an implementation of the suggested framework in one of the factories of a multinational company in Belgium, the practical usefulness of the framework was assessed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.