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On November 15, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released an update on its investigation into a July 31 hazardous ammonia release at the Cuisine Solutions, Inc., food processing facility in Sterling, Virginia. On July 31, anhydrous ammonia was accidentally released at Cuisine Solutions’ facility. At the time of the incident, 286 […]
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) issued a call for greater use of remote isolation equipment at U.S. chemical facilities, the board announced July 25. A new safety study titled “Remote Isolation of Process Equipment” offered recommendations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as […]
On July 17, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released an update on its investigation into a January 2023 explosion and toxic chemical release at the Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies facility in Geismar, Louisiana. A reboiler at the facility exploded, leading to the release of over 870 pounds (lb) of hydrogen […]
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) on June 4 announced it deployed a team to investigate a fatal fire at a liquid nitriding facility in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. One person died after suffering severe burns during the incident at the TS USA facility, which uses a nitriding process to harden the outer […]
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 […]
In a final investigation report into a fatal well blowout, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to include onshore well drilling and well servicing operations in the agency’s process safety management (PSM) standard or develop a separate federal standard to address such operations. […]
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) updated National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs), which continue the EPA’s focus on reducing risks of accidental releases at industrial and chemical facilities. For the first time, the EPA’s initiatives emphasize inspecting and addressing noncompliance at facilities that use […]
On August 2, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released a letter sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging the commission to address hurricanes and other high-wind extreme weather events in updates to its Transmission System Planning Performance Requirements for the nation’s bulk-power system. The CSB pointed out to FERC […]
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 […]
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released a final report on a hydrogen chloride (HCl) release at the Wacker Polysilicon North American facility in Charleston, Tennessee. A worker was fatally injured in the incident. The CSB found that at the time of the incident in November 2020, there were multiple contract workers […]