By Beeta B. Lashkari and Eric J. Conn

On Tuesday, January 14, the CSB announced a new “incident report” tool, calling it a “new safety product to provide the public with more information about serious chemical incidents reported to the agency.”  Through its announcement, the CSB released the first volume of incident reports.  The CSB will be compiling summaries of incidents reported under its Accidental Release Reporting Rule (“ARRR”) and making them available to the public on the CSB’s website on a regular basis.

As for the first volume of incident reports, it covers 26 accidental release events, spanning in time from April 2020 to September 2023.  Those events occurred in 15 states (California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas), and together, resulted in five fatalities, 17 serious injuries, and approximately $700 million in property damage.  Each incident report includes a summary of the event and its probable cause.  In its announcement, the CSB specifically calls out the events covered in the first volume: Continue reading →