Process safety regulations are an integral part of maintaining the safety of workers, the public, and the environment. Therefore, global regulations were analyzed to compare the extent of process safety regulations in the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, China, and India. The development of regulations is typically instigated by the occurrence of a significant process safety incident. However, the extent of the regulations and the quality of their enforcement varies greatly between countries. In general, the developed countries have better reporting procedures, enforcement of regulations, and emergency plans which increases the number of incidents reported. Developing countries are working to implement regulations, typically influenced by regulations from developed countries, but the regulations aren't currently enforced to the same extent. Overall, improvement in reporting & data collection procedures and increased communication between the government, companies and the public would help increase the effectiveness of process safety regulations. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.