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Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine compliance with OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard. Is your workplace covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) standard? Application of the PSM standard was covered […]
A metal tube ruptured within a reactor charge furnace during a unit start-up, releasing hot renewable diesel and hydrogen and resulting in a fire that seriously injured an employee at the Marathon Martinez Renewables facility in Martinez, California. The employee suffered third-degree burns to most of his face and body, the U.S. Chemical Safety and […]
On July 6, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its final report on a fatal incident on December 8, 2020, at Optima Belle LLC in Belle, West Virginia. The board also recently closed two other investigations. During Optima Belle’s production of a sanitizing compound for Clearon Corporation, a dryer at the […]
A safety video released October 27 by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigations Board (CSB) reached 1 million views on YouTube within a week, the CSB announced November 7. The video, “Wake Up Call: Refinery Disaster in Philadelphia,” details the June 21, 2019, fire, series of explosions, and toxic hydrofluoric acid (HF) release at […]
In a report dated November 10, 2021, the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) asserted, “The lack of five board members may prevent the [Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB)] from achieving its stated mission to ‘drive chemical safety change through independent investigation to protect people and the environment.’” The CSB was created by […]
On May 4, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) adopted a final report on an October 26, 2019, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) release at the Aghorn Operating waterflood station in Odessa, Texas. The toxic gas release fatally injured an Aghorn employee who was working at the facility, as well as his spouse, who […]
The fiscal year (FY) 2020 report by the EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) on the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s (CSB) management challenges reveals that the board’s continued issues will impede its ability to effectively operate.
In one of its rare regulatory actions directly affecting the regulated community, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB or the Board) has issued a final rule requiring owners and operators of stationary sources to report information about accidental releases of hazardous substances to the CSB.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has proposed a rule that would require owners and operators of stationary sources to report basic information about accidental chemical releases.
A “chain of failures” in emergency response and process safety management led to the November 2014 deaths of four workers following a methyl mercaptan release at the DuPont Plant in La Porte, Texas, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).