On August 31, 1794, the Grenelle gunpowder factory (Paris) exploded, causing more than 1,000 casualties. On October 15, 1810, the decree on dangerous and harmful factories was enacted. This chronological proximity has led some authors to write that industrial risks regulation was a consequence of this disaster. This idea was reinforced after the AZF factory explosion in Toulouse in 2001 and the subsequent implementation plans for prevention of technological risks in 2003. However, a sharper analysis of both the plant operations and the subsequent regulation shows a disconnect between this industrial accident and the 1810 decree. The gunpowder factory was exceptional in several respects: it was located within Paris with a concentration of more than 1,000 workers and its production processes were dictated by the imperatives of the patriotic mobilization of the revolutionary government. Besides, after the fever pitch of An II, the designers of the gunpowder factory succeeded in clearing their name. So, the explosion did not have any impact on the law. Ironically, it was Chaptal, the former manager of the gunpowder factory, who was behind the development of the industrial risks regulation of the State. Being a statesman and having established a chemical plant producing industrial pollution, Chaptal combined science and National Interest in the development of an industrial economic project. While overshadowing the 1794 disaster, he designed rules favorable to industrial interests and introducing the acceptance of industrial risks in society.