Committee for Best Practices in Chemical Industry & Logistics

Guideline Evaluation Overview

The development of BECLOSE was commissioned as part of the International Safety Best Practices (ISBP) initiative, supported through the Temporary Subsidy Scheme for Strengthening Environmental Safety of Industrial Activities (2022–2027) by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and implemented by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
The project was executed by the Safety and Security Science Section (TPM Faculty, Delft University of Technology) in collaboration with the International Foundation for Chemical Logistics (IFCL), which remains responsible for long-term maintenance and continued development of the framework.

The purpose is to improve chemical logistics safety by identifying and promoting high-quality reference documents across regulatory, technical, and scientific domains.
Purpose of the BECLOSE scheme

The ISBP platform curates a growing collection of guidelines, standards, laws, and tools aimed at improving chemical logistics safety. BECLOSE was developed to:
• Evaluate these documents in a structured and consistent manner.
• Help users identify which documents offer trustworthy, current, and implementable guidance.
• Encourage transparency, comparability, and rigor in the selection and dissemination of best practices.

The Evaluation Committee
Evaluations are performed by a committee of four experts, drawn from industry, academia, and public institutions. All committee members are familiar with the field of chemical logistics safety and apply their expertise when evaluating documents using the BECLOSE framework. Their evaluations combine subjective expert judgment with a structured, objective rating method.

What is BECLOSE?
BECLOSE is grounded in the European regulatory framework for chemical logistics safety, which is considered a harmonized and high-quality reference system. The manual pays particular attention to key European regulations such as:
• ADR – Road transport of dangerous goods.
• REACH – Regulation on chemical safety throughout the supply chain.
• SEVESO III – Directive for preventing major industrial accidents.

While ADR focuses on road transport, the BECLOSE manual also acknowledges other transport modes and proactively offers flexibility for evaluating documents related to rail (RID), inland waterways (ADN), air (ICAO/IATA), and maritime (IMDG).

Appraisers are advised to keep this framework in mind when evaluating the document’s jurisdiction, recency, and alignment with legislation.
Its Use BECLOSE is designed to evaluate a wide range of document types, including:
• Legal Instruments: Laws, regulations, and enforceable government directives.
• Normative Documents: Standards, recommended practices, and implementation guidance.
• Research, Tools & Techniques: Academic studies, industry tools, and methods.
Each type has its own evaluation structure adapted to its nature and intended function.

The BECLOSE Evaluation Approach
The Three Domains

BECLOSE evaluates each document through three key domains:
1. Relevance – Is the document aligned with regulatory -and operational contexts?
2. Practicality – Is it accessible, comprehensible, and implementable by users?
3. Correctness – Does it demonstrate scientific rigor, internal consistency, and stakeholder involvement?

Each domain contains multiple evaluation items with dedicated rating criteria.
Tailored for Each Document Type
Because legal instruments, normative standards, and research documents vary in purpose and structure, BECLOSE adapts its evaluation items for each document type while maintaining a unified structure.
Scoring and Flexibility
• Items are rated from 1 to 5 (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree).
• In some cases, ratings are binary (1 or 5) to reflect yes/no or presence/absence of qualities.
• Scores are aggregated per domain, and a weighted formula can be applied to compute an overall quality score.
• In recognition of the diverse document types and scopes, BECLOSE allows limited flexibility (e.g., score adjustments up to 20%) to ensure fair evaluation.
• Legal instruments are evaluated without adjustments.

What the Evaluation Produces
Each document evaluated through BECLOSE receives:
• A domain-specific score for Relevance, Practicality, and Correctness.
• An overall quality score (computed through weighted aggregation).
• A set of comments and justifications per item to provide qualitative feedback.
• A final summary assessment, used to inform decision-making on whether to endorse the document as a best practice which is communicated to the users through a five-star rating system on the platform.

Read the BECLOSE Users Manual!

Join Our Committee for Best Practices in Chemical Industry & Logistics!

The International Foundation for Chemical Logistics (IFCL) is seeking motivated and knowledgeable committee members to help evaluate best practices in safety within chemical Industry & logistics. As a committee member, you will play a key role in reviewing the best practices published periodically on our website, www.bestsafetypractices.org.

What do we expect from committee members?

• Thoroughly review submitted best practices.
• Provide valuable feedback and recommendations to improve safety in chemical Industry & logistics.
• Participate in periodic meetings and discussions on the implementation of new best practices.

What do we offer?

• The opportunity to influence safety standards in the chemical logistics sector.
• Collaboration with professionals and experts from the industry.
• A platform to share knowledge and experience.

Are you an expert in chemical logistics, Industry and / or safety? Do you want to help improve best practices in the industry? Apply to become a committee member today!

Send an email to contact@chemical-logistics.org for more information or to sign up.

We look forward to your contribution!