Road tanker offloading of industrial chemicals presents a common but hazardous activity internationally. Human Factors Critical Task Reviews (HFCTRs) typically focus on individual sites; learning is rarely done across different sites. We reviewed HFCTR reports and reflected on consultancy experience of reviewing road tanker offloading across multiple organizations to explore variability. We identified key task steps, key major hazards and 10 key Human Factors issues associated with this task. This should raise awareness of issues and how risks are managed, however each site needs to be considered on a case by case basis because chemical properties, organizational issues and the physical configuration of the site will all contribute to nuances in the risk landscape and issues that pertain to individual sites. We reflect on simple, complicated and complex problems for road tanker offloading and how these can be handled across the industry.