The April 2, 2010, explosion and fire that fatally injured seven employees at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, Washington was caused by a faulty heat exchanger, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which will officially wrap up its investigation into the tragedy at a meeting later this month.
A rule to establish standards for combustible dust that’s been in the works since 2009 is scheduled to move closer to completion in 2014, with a proposed draft regulation due this spring. Worker safety advocates and agencies like the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) have expressed frustration over OSHA’s failure to make faster progress in making a combustible dust regulatory change.
An explosion during a chemistry class science experiment last week sent two students from a Manhattan high school to the hospital with burns to their face, hands and neck. One of them, 16-year-old Alonzo Yanes, is in critical condition in the burn unit of a local hospital. The other sustained first degree burns.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) will vote on the draft regulatory report of the August 6, 2012, fire at the Chevron refinery that endangered 19 workers and sent more than 15,000 residents to the hospital for medical attention at its public meeting on January 15.
Firefighter cancer rates, hand safety, TSCA reform
November 9, 2013
New rulemaking from OSHA was the week’s top EHS-related story. In other news: shocking differences between U.S. and U.K. occupational fatality rates and the CSB gives high marks to the NFPA’s new gas process safety standard.
OSHA backs down from proposed changes to its On-Site Consultation Program, good news about U.S. mining fatality rates and reasons why some construction workers don’t report injuries are among the top EHS-related stories featured this week on ISHN.com:
President Barack Obama has issued an Executive Order intended to improve chemical facility safety and security in coordination with owners and operators.
Owner of Deepwater Horizon has resisted subpoenas for nearly 3 years
July 25, 2013
The United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, Louisiana this week refused to grant Transocean Deepwater Drilling, Inc., owner of the Deepwater Horizon, a stay of a recent federal district court order that the company promptly turn over documents that the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has subpoenaed from the company for its investigation into the April 2010 explosion at the Macondo drilling facility in the Gulf of Mexico.
DuPont has adopted a new global corporate standard and developed stronger work requirements for hot work activities such as welding, cutting and grinding following a fatal hot work accident at the company’s Yerkes chemical facility in Buffalo, New York in 2010.
A highlight at ASSE’s annual professional development conference, this year titled Safety 2013, is the Executive Summit Panel Discussion. This year’s featured panelists: Robert Zaist, President of Energy and Construction, URS Corporation; Rafael Moure-Eraso, Chair, U.S. Chemical Safety Board; Lester Grey, Sr. Vice President of Operations, Perdue Farms; Stephanie Buchanan, Vice President of Operations, United Airlines, Houston Hub; and Virginia Valentine, Nevada Resort Association.