The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will present its final report on thedeadly explosion at the Bayer CropScience facilityin Institute, West Virginia at a public meeting in the town on January 20.

The CSB investigative team will identify the root causes of the accident and offer safety recommendations to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future. The team will also answer questions from the CSB Board and hear comments from members of the public. In addition, a panel of outside witnesses will be invited to speak on a number of issues related to the board’s findings and recommendations.

Two workers were killed in the blast, which occurred on August 28, 2008 at a chemical processing tank at the facility.

CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso said, “I encourage members of the community to attend this meeting. We are aware of the importance of our report and recommendations to the residents of the Kanawha Valley and the state of West Virginia. We hope that our conclusions and recommendations will prevent a similar accident from happening and that lives of workers will be saved and threats to communities diminished.”

The meeting, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the West Virginia State University Wilson Building, Multipurpose Room, 103 University Union, Institute, WV, 25112. Pre-registration is not required, but to assure adequate seating, attendees are encouraged to pre-register by emailing their names and affiliations to publicmeeting@csb.gov by January 15.