The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is not a regulatory agency like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Indeed, the Congress designed the CSB to be independent of those agencies so that its investigations might, where appropriate, review the effectiveness of regulations and regulatory enforcement.
The CSB determines the causes of accidents but does not issue fines or penalties. The immediate causes of accidents often involve equipment failures, human errors, unforeseen chemical reactions or other hazards. But the ultimate goal of the Board’s investigations is to determine the root causes of accidents, which typically are deficiencies in safety management systems. CSB investigative staff includes chemical and mechanical engineers, industrial safety experts, and other specialists drawn from the private and public sectors. Many investigators have years of chemical industry plant experience so that they can best serve Americans.
