Tuesday, July 16, 2013

CSB Announces Public Meeting to Vote on Key Safety Recommendations and Initiate the CSB’s Most Wanted Program


The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has scheduled a public meeting for July 25 in Washington, DC, to decide if OSHA has sufficiently implemented seven regulatory recommendations issued by the Board and to consider designating a combustible dust standard as the agency’s first “Most Wanted Safety Improvement” issue.

The morning session of the meeting will include considerations by CBS board members on whether to designate three previous recommendations as "Open--Unacceptable Response" signifying a lack of satisfaction with OSHA’s current implementation of the recommendations. The recommendations include two process safety management and a fuel gas safety standard from several CSB investigations.

The afternoon session will propose 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 follow CBS the CSB’s Combustible Dust Study, 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.

The meeting is free and open to the public and will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Horizon Room at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. More information is available at www.csb.gov.