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    The chemical industry long has been concerned about the safety of its operations and the risks both within the plant gate and beyond. Dealing with safety issues can involve sophisticated techniques for hazard analysis and prescriptive measures for plant design and operation. It also can involve rethinking a process to make it inherently safer. It demands an understanding of tradeoffs and nuances.

    Articles

    NASA/Canva
    Podcast: Lessons Learned from the Challenger Disaster
    NASA normalized foam strikes over time, turning "lessons of failure into memories of success."
    Process Safety: AI and Machine Learning Transform Compliance, But Humans Still Key
    Risk assessment should still be a manual process, but AI can streamline data collection to enable sound engineering judgments.
    Shutterstock
    Safety workplaces yellow out of service tag attached on faulty damage defect of electric power motor.
    Explore the regulatory requirements and best practices for mechanical integrity (MI) programs, including OSHA and EPA guidelines, equipment selection and lifecycle approaches....
    shutterstock
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    News

    CSB
    CSB video still
    Amanda Joshi
    June 24, 2025
    The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is investigating two toxic gas releases at Austin Powder sites, while a new video emphasizes the financial and operational...
    Shutterstock
    Homepage of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents.
    Jonathan Katz
    June 11, 2025
    Industry experts warn that eliminating the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board would remove a crucial tool for preventing plant disasters, despite the agency's modest...
    U.S. Chemical Safety Board
    CSB Optima Bell Safety Video
    Amanda Joshi
    May 28, 2025
    CSB urges stronger regulations after a 2020 chemical explosion at a West Virginia toll facility killed one and caused over $33 million in damage.
    Shutterstock
    chemical plant safety
    Amanda Joshi
    March 24, 2025
    CSB issues a new report highlighting lessons learned from the explosions that killed 15 people and injured 180 others at BP’s Texas City refinery.

    Avoid Common Pitfalls of Risk Perception Via Statistics, Storytelling
    Traci Purdum
    Dec. 19, 2023
    This episode discusses the challenges of intuitively understanding uncertainty and likelihoods in risk assessments. It also stresses the need for storytelling and stakeholder ...
    Ep 53 Cover
    Traci Purdum
    Oct. 4, 2023
    There is no such thing as zero risk, but we can take more effective approaches to minimize the potential for those risks to be realized.
    Jonathan Katz
    May 30, 2023
    Proper labeling and written work procedures could have prevented acetic acid release that killed two contract workers at the La Porte complex, according to the CSB's final report...
    shutterstock_432868021
    Shutterstock 432868021
    Jody E. Olsen
    April 3, 2023
    Selecting the process hazard review method, explaining the rationale, and resetting past thinking and presumptions