United States Chemical Safety Board “CSB”

Jeremy and Randy Williams of Garden City Ammonia Program discuss the CSB findings of a propane explosion in 2007.  Some factors to blame was unqualified technicians, unqualified training and inadequate training for when things may go wrong such as an emergency.  We will compare their findings and recommendations to the industrial ammonia refrigeration industry.

The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the agency’s board members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

The CSB conducts root cause investigations of chemical accidents at fixed industrial facilities. Root causes are usually deficiencies in safety management systems, but can be any factor that would have prevented the accident if that factor had not occurred. Other accident causes often involve equipment failures, human errors, unforeseen chemical reactions or other hazards. The agency does not issue fines or citations, but does make recommendations to plants, regulatory agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), industry organizations, and labor groups. Congress designed the CSB to be non-regulatory and independent of other agencies so that its investigations might, where appropriate, review the effectiveness of regulations and regulatory enforcement.

The CSB investigative staff includes chemical and mechanical engineers, industrial safety experts, and other specialists with experience in the private and public sectors. Many investigators have years of chemical industry experience.

Both accident investigations and hazard investigations lead to new safety recommendations, which are the Board’s principal tool for achieving positive change. Recommendations are issued to government agencies, companies, trade associations, labor unions, and other groups. Implementation of each safety recommendation is tracked and monitored by CSB staff. When recommended actions have been completed satisfactorily, the recommendation may be closed by a Board vote.

The CSB is currently investigating several ammonia accidents and deaths.

For more information on the CSB please visit their website at

http://www.csb.gov/

To request CSB’s free Safety DVD of incident investigations visit

http://www.csb.gov/videoroom/videorequest.aspx

Half an Hour to Tragedy Propane Explosion Video Below

Click here to view the embedded video.