CSB Updates Accidental Release Reporting Data – 4-19-24
Yesterday in preparation for their quarterly business meeting tomorrow, the CSB updated their published list of reported chemical release incidents. They added 26 new incidents that occurred since the previous version was published in January and inserted eight ‘new’ incidents that occurred before January. 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 four states based upon the number of reported incidents since the January update was published.
Pre-January 2024 Incidents
The table below shows the eight ‘new’ incidents that have been inserted in the database, dating back to before January 2024.
New Incidents
The new version of the database adds 26 new incidents reported since the January 25th, 2024 version of the data was published. The new incidents include four incidents where deaths were involved, 11 with serious injuries and 13 where significant property damage was reported. Once again, Texas lead with the most reported incidents (10) 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:
Tulane University, LA – 2-5-24 (possible),
Port Huron, MI, – 2-5-24,
West Elizabeth, PA – 2-25-24 (possible),
Bethesda, MD – 2-27-24 (possible),
Clinton Township, MI – 3-4-24,
Bath, NY – 3-11-24 (probable),
Red Oak, IA – 3-11-24 (possible),
Defiance, Ohio – 3-20-24 (possible),
Moosic, PA – 4-15-24 (possible), and
Naperville, IL – 4-15-24 (possible)
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.