CSB moves on gas purging code
US industry will soon be subject to a revised set of operating regulations following a Chemical Safety Board (CSB) public meeting in Raleigh, NC, which approved the wording of two urgent safety recommendations on gas purging safety. The draft recommendations, which were approved as presented without amendment, urged the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), American Gas Association (AGA), and the International Code Council (ICC) to strengthen the fuel gas code provisions. The board of the CSB is to be commended for its forthright actions and the detailed report that came up with these important recommendations, which were drawn up following a CSB investigation into the catastrophic natural gas explosion at the ConAgra Slim Jim...
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Call for legal duty on company directors' responsibility
The Health and Safety Executive's board will have to decide whether or not to ask the Government to create a legal duty on company directors to protect the health and safety of their employees, following the first reading of a Private Members’ Bill introduced by Backbench Labour MP Frank Doran. The Bill suggests amendments to the Health and Safety at Work Act by placing a positive duty on directors to ensure health and safety in their organisations. At present, directors' health and safety duties in law are expressed as sanctions for criminal failure to prevent accidents or ill health. The Health and Safety (Company Director Liability) Bill, which was introduced under the Ten Minute Rule on 19 January, was agreed by the House and received...
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Chemical Safety Board investigates US phosgene leak
The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has decided to investigate the recent accidents at DuPont’s chemical complex in Belle, West Virginia, following a release of highly toxic phosgene last Saturday that fatally injured a veteran operator, Carl Fish, who died after being treated at Charleston Area Medical Centre for exposure to the poisonous chemical. After the incident, DuPont officials told the CSB that a braided steel hose connected to a one-ton capacity phosgene tank suddenly ruptured, releasing phosgene into the air. The release followed two other accidents at the same plant this week, including an ongoing release of chloromethane from the plant’s Hexazinone unit, which went undetected for several days, and a release of...
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