New Reporting Rule for Accidental Chemical Releases

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On February 5, 2020 the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) issued a prepublication of the final rule on accidental release reporting requirements. This rule will be effective 30 days after the final publication in the federal register.

According to the CSB, the types of companies expected to be impacted the most by this rule include: petroleum refineries, oil and gas operation support, crude petroleum and natural gas extraction, and other chemical and allied products. Metal casting facilities could be impacted if fatalities, serious injuries, or a spill or fire trigger reporting requirements

What you need to know:

Under the final rule, the owner or operator of a facility must submit accidental release reports to the CSB within eight hours if the release results in a fatality, serious injury or substantial property damages (defined as one million dollars).

The facilities must provide CSB with:

  • Name of, and contact information for, the owner/operator

  • Name of, and contact information for, the person making the report

  • Location information and facility identifier

  • Approximate time of the accidental release

  • Brief description of the accidental release

  • Indication whether fire, explosion, death, serious injury; or property damage has occurred

  • Name of the material(s) involved in the accidental release, the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) number(s), or other appropriate identifiers

  • If known:

    • the amount of the release;

    • number of fatalities;

    • number of serious injuries;

    • estimated property damage;

    • whether the accidental release has resulted in an evacuation order impacting members of the general public and others.

If the owner or operator has submitted a report to the National Response Center (NRC) pursuant to 40 CFR 302.6, the CSB reporting requirement may be satisfied by submitting the NRC identification number to the CSB within 30 minutes of submitting a report to the NRC.

For one year following the effective date of the rule, the CSB will refrain from referring violations for enforcement, unless there is a knowing failure to report, to allow adequate time for compliance education and to address any other compliance issues raised in the comments. A prepublication version of the rule is available at: https://www.csb.gov/assets/1/6/prepublicationcopy2-3-20.pdf

If you have any questions about the regulation and how it may impact your facility, please contact us today, or call (800) 508-8034 to speak with one of our compliance professionals.

Blog Author

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Emily Kubiszewski, MPA
Director of Proposals
KERAMIDA Inc.

Contact Emily at ekubiszewski@keramida.com.