Facility Safety

The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s (CSB) new report on a 2016 fire and explosion at a crude oil terminal emphasizes findings that the ultimate cause of the incident was a failure to follow OSHA’s standard for safeguarding “hot work,” and urges industry to prioritize those practices to avoid future disasters.

Industry groups appear to be conceding that EPA will finalize a new risk management plan (RMP) regulation despite their early calls to retain a 2019 rule that rolled back Obama-era changes to the program, while renewing arguments for a lenient approach based on accident data they say shows there is no need for “prescriptive” new facility-safety mandates.

A top official in EPA’s waste office is making the case for the agency to finalize a risk management plan (RMP) rule he said would be “improved” from the Trump administration’s, rejecting industry claims that the current policy is adequate even as environmentalists charge that the pending proposal needs to be significantly strengthened.

A pair of environmental groups is touting a new report that it says shows that EPA’s proposed risk management program (RMP) rule would not have prevented several recent, high-profile incidents, renewing their push for the agency to tighten key provisions just days before a series of public hearings on the rulemaking.

OSHA has postponed its public hearing on potential changes to the process safety management (PSM) standard and extended the deadline for written comments, giving stakeholders more time to weigh in on a range of possible changes that include expanding the rule to cover oil and gas facilities, and updating its list of “highly hazardous” chemicals.

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.