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In two or three sentences, explain the role of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigations Board (CSB). What are some limitations of the agency’s operations?
The CSB is a non-enforcement, non-regulatory federal organization that investigates process safety incidents in the chemical engineering industry. Their investigations serve to ascertain the root causes and contributing factors of these incidents, and to determine measures for preventing incidents from recurring. The agency communicates findings to the industry and the public in the form of incident reports and training presentations, in order to raise awareness of process safety hazards and risk mitigation and/or prevention procedures.
Explain, in 3-4 sentences, the author’s view on the value of process safety.
The author believes that safety is priceless. It is possible—albeit very difficult—to estimate the value of preventing incidents and their consequences. However, evaluating the moral and ethical ramifications of process safety is prohibitively difficult, leading to the author’s conclusion.
Explain three human risks involving explosions and/or flammable substances. Explain also the value of CSB incident reporting and communication programs to prevention and/or mitigation of these incidents.
Improper handling of explosive and flammable substances may lead to severely injurious or even lethal incidents. The overpressure caused by explosions may yield critical injuries or deaths. Explosions which originate within ruptured equipment may shoot heavy debris over large distances; anyone struck by this debris will likely be severely injured or killed. Additionally, explosions may lead to the release of flammable substances from ruptured chemical engineering equipment, the ignition of which may lead to large fires, which may cause burns to operators and/or emergency responders during containment operations. Explosions also frequently result in hearing loss for those nearby. The findings of a CSB investigation on incidents involving explosions may prove to be informative to chemical engineering facilities and the public. All parties will be further aware of the hazards of explosives and/or flammables and recommendations for risk mitigation or elimination. The incident analysis may prove to be a learning opportunity for improving process safety programs across the chemical engineering industry.