The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is authorized by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and became operational in January 1998. Under its public safety mission, CSB investigations save lives of the public and workers, and help industry save millions of dollars, worker jobs, and infrastructure.
The Senate legislative history states: "The principal role of the new chemical safety board is to investigate accidents to determine the conditions and circumstances which led up to the event and to identify the cause or causes so that similar events might be prevented." Congress gave the CSB a unique statutory mission and provided in law that no other agency or executive branch official may direct the activities of the Board.
Following the successful model of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Department of Transportation, Congress directed that the CSB's investigative function be completely independent of the rulemaking, inspection, and enforcement authorities of EPA and OSHA.
The Board has entered into a number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) that define the terms of collaboration. For example, in cases where several agencies are conducting investigations of a particular accident, the MOUs outline mechanisms for coordination in the field. The goal of the MOUs is to allow each agency to carry out its statutory mission efficiently and without unnecessary duplication of effort.