CSB Updates Accidental Release Reporting Data – 10-24-24
Yesterday in preparation for their quarterly business meeting today, the CSB updated their published list of reported chemical release incidents. They added 28 new incidents that occurred since the previous version was published [removed from paywall] in July. They also removed one incident that occurred before July. These are not incidents that the CSB is investigating, these are incidents that were reported to the CSB under their Accidental Release Reporting rules (40 CFR 1604).
The table below shows the top five states based upon the number of reported incidents since the July update was published.
Pre-July 2024 Incidents
The table below shows the one incident removed from the pre-July 2024 portion of the table.
New Incidents
The new version of the database adds 28 new incidents reported since the July 23rd, 2024 version of the data was published. The new incidents include six incidents where deaths were involved, 14 with serious injuries and 11 where significant property damage was reported. Once again, Texas led with the most reported incidents (11) with Louisiana in second with just three.
The table below shows the top ten states with high reported incidents rates since the CSB started collecting their Accidental Release Reporting data in April 2020.
Incidents Not Reported
I have been tracking news reports about chemical incidents. While such reports are not necessarily conclusive evidence of a CSB reportable incident, the information included in the news reports seem to indicate that the following incidents should have been reported to CSB:
Savannah, GA – 7-13-24 – possible,
Riverside, CA – 7-17-24 – possible,
Portsmouth, RI – 7-19-24 – possible,
Webster, TX – 8-7-24 – possible,
Amarillo, TX – 8-27-24 – possible,
GAINESVILLE, Ga - 8-29-24 – possible,
Akron, OH – 9-5-24,
Lorado, TX – 9-12-24 – possible,
Cardiff, ID – 9-12-24,
Washington, NC – 9-18-24 – possible,
Wheatfield, NY – 9-30-24 – possible,
Temple, TX – 10-1-24
NOTE: Those incidents marked ‘possible’ were where news reports indicated that one or more people were transported to the hospital, but did not note whether or not they were admitted. Transporting someone to the hospital does not make the incident CSB reportable, but admission does.
Many of the facilities involved in these incidents are not part of what people normally consider to be ‘chemical industry’. This means that the owners might not even know about the Chemical Safety Board, much less its chemical release reporting regulations.