Safety Board Closes Dow/Midland? Incident Review

[ttweed@wildrockies.org (Tony Tweedale)]

>From: csb_automailer@csb.gov
>To: ttweed@wildrockies.org
>Subject: Safety Board Closes Six Chemical Incident Reviews
>Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 18:06:21 -0500
>
>X-Mailer: Allaire Cold Fusion 3.1
>
>
>The following message is from the United States Chemical Safety and Hazard
>Investigation Board, Washington D.C.
>
>
> (WASHINGTON, D.C -- March 17, 1999) The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard
>Investigation Board (CSB) announced today that it has closed the files on
>six of 23 chemical incident reviews that it has been studying.  The CSB is
>not issuing findings of cause or issuing safety recommendations in
>connection with the six reviews.  CSB Chairman Dr. Paul L. Hill, Jr. said
>that the decision was made after it became apparent that the lessons to be
>learned from the incidents would not have broad implications for improving
>commercial and industrial chemical safety.
>
>ěThese particular incident studies, which are limited, office-based
>reviews, will not afford us the opportunity to significantly improve
>chemical safety, and we determined that our mission would be better served
>by applying our resources to other incident studies,î Dr. Hill said.
>
>The incident reviews that have been closed involve: an explosion at GMD
>shipyard in New York; an explosion at Quest Aerospace, an Arizona model
>rocket engine manufacturer; a fire at Tracor Aerospace in Arkansas; an
>explosion of an oil tank at Chieftan Energy in Logan, Ohio; a welding
>explosion at the Crawford Trucking Company in Brooker, Fla.: and a
>chemical leak at a Dow Chemical plant in Michigan.
>
> Dr. Hill explained that an Incident Review, unlike a full-scale field
>investigation, relies primarily on the evaluation of the investigation
>reports prepared by local responders, other federal and state agencies,
>and the companiesí own internal investigations. ěIn each of these six
>cases, the review procedure led us to the conclusion the review process
>would not result in any significant new findings or recommendations,î Dr.
>Hill said.
>
>Investigations by other government agencies usually address whether rules
>were violated and typically do not identify the underlying causes of the
>incident; therefore there is often not enough information available for
>the Board to generate useful recommendations and findings and the incident
>files have been closed.
>
> CSB rules permit an incident investigation file to be reopened at any
>time if significant new information becomes available.
>
> The Chemical Safety Board is an independent federal agency with the
>mission of ensuring the safety of workers and the public by preventing or
>minimizing the effects of industrial and commercial chemical incidents.
>Congress modeled it after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB),
>which investigates aircraft and other transportation accidents for the
>purpose of improving safety.
>
>Like the NTSB, the CSB is a scientific investigatory organization. CSB is
>responsible for finding ways to prevent or minimize the effects of
>chemical accidents at industrial facilities and in transport; the Board is
>not an enforcement or regulatory body.
>
>CSB is currently reviewing or investigating incidents in California (2),
>Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana (2), Maryland (2), Massachusetts, Michigan
>(2), Missouri, New Jersey (2), Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania (3),
>South Dakota, Texas and Washington State (3).
>
>                         -30-
>
>
>This message was transmitted at 6:03 PM Eastern Time (U.S.A.) on March 17,
>1999.
>
>
>
>________________________________________________________
>
>Visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.chemsafety.gov
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