Give the Chemical Safety Board Some Fangs

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.

It is ridiculous that the primary investigative tool of the Federal Government into incidents that kill and seriously injure many people each year cannot issue citations and fines. It is obvious that OSHA is ineffective due to several factors including under funding, understaffing and farming out responsibilities to state governments that may be more politically and economically motivated to not do the right thing. These factors result in an overall lack of enforcement or inconsistent enforcement.

While some of the accidents are due to ignorance, many of the incidents can be laid at the feet of a corporate America that is saving money to maximize profits at the expense of people’s lives. Time after time, the Board’s investigations have concluded that lack of proper safety assessments and profits over procedures have resulted in tragedy.

Not only does the Federal Government need to provide the Board with enforcement powers, it also needs to properly fund the agency. Outgoing Chairman Merritt said that despite productivity gains, 'Major chemical accidents occur around the country and in many cases we have no investigators available to deploy.'  The three new investigators to be hired under the proposal would help form a fourth investigative team to deploy to accident sites.  Ms. Merritt pointed to a recent propane explosion at a Milwaukee manufacturer, which killed three workers and injured 46 others, as an example of an accident the CSB would have investigated if it had more personnel available.

Government “out of our face” issues aside, the power of the Federal Government to (at times) rise above political and economic powers and to “do the right thing” has been clearly demonstrated in the past. It has protected voting rights, eliminated blatant racial discrimination, protected the disabled, and even backed the EPA against the lying auto industry in the early years. Yes it has also failed several times, such as its immigration control, the current aforementioned pathetic status of OSHA, the war on drugs, its unnecessary continued dependence on oil, and in several other areas. But this is a clear case where it can use its power to protect these workers more than any union can do.

Give the Chemical Safety Board some money and citation and fine powers, and watch the accidents, explosions and other incident rates go down as if a miracle has occurred.