The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will hold a public meeting in Washington, D.C. on July 25 in Washington, to decide if OSHA has adequately implemented seven regulatory recommendations it issued.

The CSB will also be selecting its first-ever “Most Wanted Chemical Safety Improvement” issue –designated for special advocacy initiatives on behalf of the agency’s board members.

Judging OSHA

The Board determine the status of the following recommendations made to OSHA:

• Recommendation No. 2001-05-I-DE-R1, issued to pursuant to the CSB’s investigation of the July 2001 atmospheric  tank explosion at the Motiva refinery in Delaware City, DE The recommendation calls upon OSHA to ensure coverage under the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, CFR 1910.119, for atmospheric storage tanks that could be involved in a potential catastrophic release as a result of being interconnected to a covered process with 10,000 pounds of a flammable substance.
• Recommendation No. 2005-4-I-TX-R9, issued pursuant to the CSB’s investigation of the March 2005 explosions and fire at the BP Texas City refinery The recommendation calls upon OSHA to amend PSM to require management of change (MOC) reviews to be conducted for organizational changes (e.g., mergers and acquisitions) that may impact process safety.
• Recommendation No. 2005-4-I-TX-UR1, issued pursuant to the CSB’s investigations of the June 2009 explosion and roof collapse at the ConAgra SlimJim facility in Garner, NC  and the February 2010 explosion at the Kleen Energy power plant in Middletown, CT. The recommendation calls upon OSHA to issue a fuel gas safety standard for construction and general industry.

The Board will also consider designating four recommendations to OSHA calling for the issuance of a comprehensive general industry standard for combustible dust with the status “Open- Unacceptable Response.”  These recommendations arose from the CSB’s Combustible Dust Study as well as its investigations of the 2008 explosions and fire at the Imperial Sugar Refinery in Port Wentworth, GA, and three dust-related incidents at the Hoeganaes Corporation in Gallatin, TN.

Combustible dust standard could get special attention

Finally, the Board will consider designating a combustible dust standard as the agency’s first “Most Wanted Safety Improvement” and therefore the subject of more intense agency advocacy efforts, based on its guidance in the recently adopted Board Order 46. This would be the first time that the agency makes such a selection.

The hearing is free and open to the public. The meeting will be held at the Horizon Room at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, located at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20004. The morning session will commence at 9:30 am; the afternoon session will begin at 1:30 pm.

During both the morning and afternoon sessions, members of the audience will have an opportunity to provide comments on the pending actions to be voted by the Board. More information about the meeting may be found at www.csb.gov.

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