EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is suggesting the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) address a raft of procedural and staffing issues in a future strategic plan as part of its “special review” of the body’s “capabilities,” along with new details on a behind-the-scenes clash that led to the resignation of its former chair.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has crafted first-time guidance for its 2020 accidental-release reporting rule that it says “clarifies” requirements for facilities to notify the board of releases that cause injury, death or “substantial” property damage, just a month after publishing data from the rule’s first two years of reports.
Despite EPA’s proposal of a facility safety rule that goes beyond the provisions of an Obama-era regulation, environmentalists are pressing the agency to require more actions, saying provisions in the proposed risk management program (RMP) rule do not go far enough to protect overburdened communities and prevent chemical spills.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan has signed a proposed Risk Management Program (RMP) rule that would reinstate controversial provisions contained in an Obama-era regulation, but removed by the Trump administration, as well require new actions aimed at “empowering workers” in facility safety considerations.
OSHA is seeking $110,630 in penalties for an ammonia leak at a Georgia poultry plant that the agency says hospitalized two workers and forced dozens more to evacuate, as the agency prepares to pursue an update to the process safety management (PSM) standard at the heart of the case, in parallel with EPA’s reforms to its own facility-safety rule.
Former EPA chemicals chief Steve Owens used his first public meeting as acting chief of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) to announce a slate of transparency initiatives for the independent agency, including publication of accidental-release reporting data it has been gathering since 2020.
Petrochemical and other industry groups are urging the White House not to tighten mandates under EPA’s risk management plan (RMP) program that requires facilities using very hazardous substances to follow plans to reduce risk of dangerous releases, as the agency moves toward reviving Obama-era policies that the Trump administration rescinded.
OSHA has published a new round of regulatory interpretation letters, providing new readings of its standards governing permit-required confined spaces (PRCS), storage of compressed-gas cylinders and approved lifting devices for working with electrical transformers, each in response to separate requests for clarification from various employers.
OSHA is urging Amazon and other companies to review their severe-weather emergency procedures and make improvements to further protect workers in such situations, following an investigation in the aftermath of a December tornado in Illinois that killed six contractors with the retail giant.
A group of 31 House and Senate Democrats is stepping up pressure on EPA to consider climate change impacts in its upcoming risk management plan (RMP) facility safety rule, arguing that hazards such as more frequent extreme weather will act as a “threat multiplier” for chemical releases and other disasters the rule is meant to prevent or mitigate.