Understanding the thermal stability of materials involved in a process is a critical part of ensuring it can be performed safely, however incidents still occur within the chemical industry due to rapid and often violent decompositions occurring. This presentation focuses on recent work investigating what can impact on the thermal stability of nitro containing species – a functional group much studied and long known to have a high heat of decomposition, gaseous decomposition products and which decomposes in an autocatalytic fashion. The outputs of this presentation will act as a critical reminder of some of the key messages when it comes to safe process development, which whilst focussed on nitro containing species will also apply to other thermally unstable groups.