CSB 5-Year Strategic Plan open for comment - U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) requested comments on its draft strategic plan for 2012-2016. It includes the boards strategic goals, objectives and associated measures for managing and evaluating agency operations.
The draft plan lists 5 goals in its table of contents:
Goal 1: Select and complete accident investigations and recommend actions with a high potential for protecting workers, the public and the environment.
Goal 2: Select and complete safety studies and recommend actions with a high potential for protecting workers, the public and the environment.
Goal 3: Reduce the likelihood of similar accidents in the future by securing implementation of CSB safety recommendations.
Goal 4: Promote improved safety practices by broadly disseminating the findings, lessons and recommendations from CSB investigations and studies.
Goal 5: Establish the CSB as a recognized world leader in accident investigation and prevention by continuing to improve our human capital and infrastructure.
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In a letter to the Office of Management & Budget, CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso showed strong support for OSHA's Proposal to include an "Unclassified Hazards" category in the current proposal to adopt the UN's Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for classification and labeling of chemicals. He wrote, the inclusion of an unclassified hazards category would substantially improve the ability of the GHS system to provide crucial information to workers and employers about serious hazards that might otherwise not be included in safety data sheets because they do not fit into the current classification categories of the GHS
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CSB Applauds AIChEs (The American Institute of Chemical Engineers) Response to Including Reactive Hazard Awareness in College Chemical Engineering Curriculum
On April 2, 2012 at the 2012 AIChE Spring Meeting & 8 th Global Congress on Process Safety in Houston, TX, Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso formally commended AIChE for exceeding the CSB's recommended action resulting from the boards 2009 investigation report into the fatal reactive chemical accident at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Florida. As a result of the investigative findings the CSB had called on AIChE to work with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) to include reactive hazard awareness in college chemical engineering curriculum. Read more here
The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. The agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems. The Board does not issue citations or fines, but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA.
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