The 2012 rupture of a Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation natural gas pipeline in West Virginia was caused by external corrosion that could have been discovered by the pipeline operator, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released earlier this week.

The CSB has released its second safety message in an occasional series focusing on the impacts  of chemical accidents  on people’s lives. The short video features Amy Gumbel, sister of Matt Gumbel - one of the workers fatally injured in the 2010 explosion and fire at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, Washington.

Superior Manufacturing Group, the industry-leading makers of NoTrax®, Akro™, APEX™, and HomeTrax Designs™ floor matting products, has added  new updated designs to the Safety Message Mat product line.

As the number of chemical disasters and injuries continues to mount in 2014, evidence shows that the risks that chemical facilities present to the local communities in which they are located are greater than many residents previously understood. The Center for Effective Government has created a set of maps, showing how close many of these facilities are to schools and hospitals.

EXAIR’s new 110 Gallon Heavy Duty HEPA Vac is a powerful, HEPA quality, industrial vacuum cleaner. The higher capacity drum means that fewer drum changes will be required during clean-up. The Heavy Duty HEPA Vac is designed to move more material with less wear.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) released a draft bill entitled the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA) on Thursday, Feb. 27 that provides no significant improvements in protecting public health and the environment from toxic chemicals. Many of the provisions in the draft bill maintain the already deficient approaches to health protections now included under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), our nation's outdated and ineffective chemical safety law.

The Chevron refinery fire in California in 2012 – the West Texas explosion last year – the West Virginia water crisis in January: All of these were preventable accidents. The United States is facing an industrial chemical safety crisis. After all of these accidents, we hear frustration and heartbreak.  Workers, emergency responders, and the public continue to die and suffer injuries.

An OSHA inspection into an incident in which a worker’s arms being crushed while he was operating an unguarded machine uncovered information about two other incidents at the same facility; both of them involving severe injuries to employees while operating similar machinery.

An aluminum plant worker sickened by hazardous chlorine gas while changing cylinders brought OSHA inspectors to Beck Aluminum Alloys Ltd., which operates Beck Aluminum Racine, for a close look at the company’s Racine, Wisc. plant.