OCS Publishes CFATS Monthly Update – April 2021

Yesterday CISA’s Office for Chemical Security (OCS) updated their CFATS Monthly Statistics page, providing continuing information about the activities of the chemical security inspectors (CSI) and the status of facilities in the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. The figures show that OCS continues to carry out a vigorous inspection program while still operating in a COVID-19 restricted environment.

CSI Activities

The table below summarizes the CSI program activities over the last four months.

Inspection Data	Jan-21	Feb-21	Mar-21	Apr-21
Authorization Inspections	11	17	16	13
Compliance Inspections	69	97	93	128
Compliance Assistance	205	152	114	68
Compliance Audit	5	18	10	6

The total activities for last month continue to show a downward trend from the COVID-19 activities high in January and remain below the COVID-19 average. This is mainly due to the decline in the number of Compliance Assistance visits. This was certainly due to the large increase in the number of facilities with approved site security plans in March (see the table below); fewer facilities were needing help with developing their SSPs.

Facility Status

The table below shows the regulatory status of facilities in the CFATS program. The total number of facilities in the program has remained relatively stable over the last three months.

Facility Status	Jan-21	Feb-21	Mar-21	Apr-21
Tiered	103	100	86	103
Authorized	152	153	139	145
Approved	3037	3027	3057	3034
Total	3292	3280	3282	3282

This month we saw a sharp decline in the number of facilities with approved site security plans; the largest in 12 months. This could only happen if at least that number of facilities left the program. Facilities can leave the program by reducing the inventory of the DHS chemicals of interest below the screening quantity threshold by modifying their processes or product mix, or closing the plant. Even closing the plant would specifically require the removal of the COI from the facility for it to be able to leave the CFATS program.

The total number of facilities in the program at the end of the month remained the same as in March, so there must have been a large influx of new facilities. Given the post-January decline in the COVID infection rates across most of the country, I suspect that many of these new facilities were facilities that were previously in the program but had to close due to the pandemic. Those facilities will almost certainly have an easier time moving through the SSP approval process. I doubt that all of the new facilities were re-openings, so it would seem that the OCS outreach program continues to identify new facilities.