News Releases

CSB Investigators Examining Source of Flammable Vapor Cloud in Fatal Houston Area Truck Fire

Jan 16, 2003

(Houston, TX - January 16, 2003) Investigators with the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, accompanied by Board Chairman Carolyn W. Merritt, continue their investigation into the cause of a deadly flash fire at an oilfield waste recovery facility south of Houston, which killed two workers and injured three others on Monday, January 13, 2003.

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CSB Team Heads to Houston Area Accident Scene

Jan 14, 2003

(Washington, DC - January 14, 2003) A CSB investigative team is en route to the site of Monday's explosion in Brazoria County, TX, south of Houston that killed two workers and injured five others. The accident at BLSR Operating apparently involved two stationary vacuum tank trucks carrying petroleum wastes. CSB Chairman Carolyn W. Merritt is accompanying the team, which is headed by CSB Investigator John Vorderbrueggen. The team will assess whether to conduct a full CSB investigation of the incident, which would lead to a determination of causes and issuance of safety recommendations.

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Board Members To Brief Mississippi Community on First Chemical Plant Explosion

Jan 10, 2003

(Washington, DC - January 10, 2003) Members of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board will conduct a community meeting 10 a.m. Wednesday, January 15, at Pascagoula (Miss.) City Hall to brief officials and the public on the explosion and fire at the nearby First Chemical plant that occurred last October 13.

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CSB Safety Advisory Calls for Validation of Chlorine Transfer Hoses

Dec 04, 2002

(Washington, DC - December 4, 2002) Finding that the use of an incorrect hose led to an August 2002 chlorine leak near St. Louis, a new safety advisory issued today by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) calls on other chlorine users to verify the materials of construction of their chlorine transfer hoses. The advisory grows out of an August 14, 2002, chlorine release at DPC Enterprises in Festus, Missouri. In that incident, a transfer hose failed catastrophically during the unloading of a chlorine rail car. Due to the malfunction of an automatic shutdown system, the leak continued unabated for several hours, eventually causing the release of about 48,000 pounds of toxic chlorine gas. Sixty-three people, including workers and nearby residents, sought hospital treatment as the result of the leak.

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U.S. Chemical Safety Board Votes 5-0 to Approve Georgia-Pacific Accident Report, Looks to Review Sewer Hazards

Nov 22, 2002

(Washington, DC - November 22, 2002) The U.S. Chemical Safety Board voted 5-0 on November 20 to approve the final staff report into the root causes of the January 16, 2002, hydrogen sulfide gas leak at the Georgia-Pacific Naheola pulp and paper mill in Pennington, Alabama, which took the lives of two workers and injured another eight.

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U.S. Chemical Safety Board Meets to Vote on Findings and Safety Recommendations in Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill Gas Release That Killed 2 and Injured 8

Nov 20, 2002

(Washington, DC - November 20, 2002) The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is expected to vote today on the final staff report into the root causes of the January 16, 2002, hydrogen sulfide gas leak at the Georgia-Pacific Naheola pulp and paper mill in Pennington, Alabama, which took the lives of two workers and injured another eight. The staff investigation concluded that plant management had not followed good engineering and process safety practices when they earlier connected a drain from a tank truck unloading area into an acidic process sewer system. On the day of the incident, sodium hydrosulfide -- a process chemical that had spilled in the unloading area - reacted to release deadly hydrogen sulfide gas when it contacted acidic material in the sewer. The toxic gas vented from the sewer through a nearby fiberglass manhole cover and engulfed the workers. The two deaths and all but one of the injuries occurred among employees of Burkes Construction who were working in the vicinity on an unrelated construction project.

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Board to Conduct Full Investigation of First Chem Explosion

Oct 23, 2002

(October 23, 2002 - Washington, DC) The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) will conduct a full investigation of the October 13th distillation tower explosion at First Chemical Corp. near Pascagoula, Mississippi, where CSB investigators are continuing to conduct interviews and collect other data.

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Board Deploys Field Investigation Team to Mississippi Accident Site

Oct 16, 2002

(October 16, 2002 - Washington, DC) The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) today deployed a field investigation team to the site of a chemical explosion at the First Chemical Corp. manufacturing facility near Pascagoula, Mississippi. The team, headed by lead investigator Steve Selk and accompanied by Board Member Dr. Gerald Poje, will review the circumstances of the Sunday morning explosion that seriously damaged a large nitrotoluene distillation tower and ignited fires in a storage tank and elsewhere. Three workers received minor injuries, and nearby residents were temporarily sheltered in place. The purpose of the initial field work will be to determine if the accident warrants a full-scale investigation, which would entail a thorough analysis of the event and its causes and of the safety systems in place at the plant. First Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of ChemFirst Inc., is a producer of aniline and nitrotoluene derivatives and intermediates.

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U.S. Chemical Safety Board Votes 5-0 to Recommend New OSHA, EPA, and Industry Standards to Control Chemical Reaction Hazards

Sep 20, 2002

Sept. 20, 2002 - Washington, DC) Meeting before a public audience in Houston on September 17th, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) unanimously approved a total of 18 new recommendations to reduce the number of serious industrial accidents caused by uncontrolled chemical reactions and called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue new mandatory safety standards. CSB investigators told the Board members and the public that inadequate controls of chemical reaction hazards are responsible for continuing deaths, injuries, and environmental and property damage around the country. Three workers who were severely burned on March 27, 2000, in a reactive accident at Phillips Chemical Co. in Pasadena, Texas, spoke at the public meeting prior to the Board vote. For the first time the Board called on OSHA and EPA to extend their process safety regulations - known as the Process Safety Management standard and the Risk Management Program rule - to better control hazards associated with chemical reactivity. Under the terms of the Clean Air Act, OSHA and EPA must respond within no more than 180 days to the Board's recommendations.

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Two-Year Staff Investigation Points to Gaps in OSHA and Industry Standards for Reactive Chemicals

Sep 17, 2002

September 17, 2002, Houston, TX -- The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) convenes in Houston today to vote on recommendations to OSHA, EPA, and trade groups to improve the safety of industrial processes that can experience hazardous chemical reactions. Inadequate controls of such "reactive hazards" are responsible for continuing deaths, injuries, and environmental and property damage around the country, according to the Board.

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