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The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is an independent, nonregulatory federal agency charged with investigating the root causes of major chemical incidents and hazards that result, or may result, in the catastrophic release of extremely hazardous substances.
The Board does not issue citations or fines, but makes safety recommendations to companies, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and the EPA.
The CSB's public safety mission is to drive chemical safety excellence through independent investigations to protect communities, workers, and the environment. Its core mission activities include conducting incident investigations, formulating preventive or mitigative recommendations based on investigation findings and advocating for their implementation, issuing reports containing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations arising from incident investigations, and conducting studies on chemical hazards.
The agency was created under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. In the CSB’S 25-year history, the agency has deployed to nearly 180 chemical incidents and issued more than 1,000 recommendations that have led to numerous safety improvements across a wide variety of industries.
CSB board members are appointed by the president subject to Senate confirmation.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is required to hold at least one public meeting each quarter to review its progress in meeting its mission and highlight…
President Trump signed a continuing resolution Nov. 12, allowing safety agencies to resume full operations until Jan. 30. FY26 appropriations must be finalized before the new…
ATF has finished clearing undetonated explosives and other hazardous materials from the AES site. The CSB is sending a team this week to investigate the explosion that killed 16.
A 70-year-old cast-iron valve leaked gas when U.S. Steel and contract workers attempted to flush it with water, causing an explosion which killed 2 and injured 11 at the…
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board recommended improving emergency plans and updating IIAR standards in its final report on the 2024 toxic ammonia refrigerant release at Cuisine…
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board found emergency response plans and training to be inadequate in its final report on the 2024 toxic ammonia refrigerant release at Cuisine Solutions.
Preliminary evidence indicates a combustible wood dust explosion occurred at the Horizon Biofuels facility in Fremont, Nebraska. The structure remains unsafe to enter, delaying…
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board released an accident reconstruction animation of the 2019 ITC Deer Park petrochemical fire, issuing eight recommendations to ITC, OSHA, EPA, and API.
Combustible dust explosions at Didion Milling's Wisconsin facility in 2017 killed five and seriously injured 14. Nine CSB safety recommendations are left unanswered despite…
Horizon was cited by OSHA in 2012 and the state Dept. of Environment & Energy in 2025 for combustible dust buildup, which may have caused the July 29 explosion that killed…
Volume 3 of the CSB’s chemical incident reports cover 30 incidents from 2020 to 2025 that caused two deaths, 25 serious injuries, and $1.8 billion in damage across 15 states.
