Safety videos produced in 2012 by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) have been named the recipient of three Peer Awards from the Television, Internet and Video Association, a Washington, D.C. -- based organization of media production professionals.

Videos on an academic laboratory explosion in Lubbock, Texas and a flammable vapor explosion near Buffalo, New York, received bronze awards, while a video on a string of dust flash fires at a Tennessee metal powder production company received a silver award. CSB safety videos are documentary-style narratives on specific accidents based on CSB investigation findings. They typically include computer 3D animations that depict deadly sequences of events, and include commentary by investigators and CSB board members. 

Accepting the awards at the Nov. 14 awards ceremony at the National Press Club were CSB Chairperson Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso, Managing Director Dr. Daniel Horowitz, Communications Manager Hillary Cohen, and Sandy Gilmour and Shauna Lawhorne of Sandy Gilmour Communications, LLC, which provides support for CSB  video production.

Chairperson Moure-Eraso said, “We are proud to receive the recent TIVA awards for these important videos.  Since beginning the video program in 2005, we have been told by hundreds of company safety officials, executives, independent training companies and others –worldwide—that the videos are being used to prevent accidents and save lives. The videos tell a compelling story of our investigations, making them accessible and transparent to the public. Recognition by peers in the video business confirms that we are achieving our goals of quality production and effective communication.”

The winning videos are:

Hot Work: Hidden Hazards (Bronze Award) – Two contractors were performing welding atop a 10,000 gallon slurry tank at a DuPont chemical facility near Buffalo, New York, when hot sparks ignited flammable vapors inside the tank, causing an explosion that killed one of the men and seriously injured another.

Experimenting with Danger (Bronze Award) – A laboratory worker performing an experiment for an energetic materialsproject at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, was severely injured in an explosion.  The video highlights two other academic lab accidents, one at UCLA and the other at Dartmouth College.

Iron in the Fire (Silver Award) – Three combustible dust flash fires over a six month period occurred at the Hoeganaes Corporation powdered-iron facility in Gallatin, Tennessee, 20 miles outside of Nashville, resulting in fatal injuries to five workers. 

To date, the CSB has produced 29 safety videos, which are all available online at www.CSB.gov, www.youtube.com/uscsb and in a two-volume, three-disc compilation set available free of charge on DVD by filling out an online request form.

 The CSB’s safety videos received numerous other awards, including three TIVA Peer Awards in 2011.  In 2010, the CSB received two CINE Golden Eagle Awards, one for a video on the rural oil tank storage facilities and teenage deaths entitled, “No Place to Hang Out,” and the other for “Dangers of Hot Work,” which reported on fatal accidents caused by the ignition of flammable vapor during welding, cutting and griding activities at chemcal and other facilities, for which the recently-awarded “Hot Work: Hidden Hazards” was a sequel.