The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) yesterday deployed a four-person investigation team to El Dorado, Arkansas to determine the cause of an explosion and fire that severely burned and killed three workers.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is commending Massachusetts toughening up regulation of hazardous materials storage and processing in the state, including monitoring of high risk facilities to ensure they are complying with key federal process safety and risk management programs.

In a draft report released today at a news conference in Buffalo, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) determined that an explosion that killed one and injured another contract welder on November 9, 2010, was caused by the ignition of flammable vinyl fluoride inside a large process tank, a hazard which had been overlooked by DuPont engineers.