CSB Preliminary Report on CropScience Accident

The Chemical Safety Board released their preliminary findings on the August 28th, 2008 accident at the Bayer CropScience facility outside of Institute, WV ahead of this evening’s public meeting in Institute. They have determined that a combination of issues lead to this ‘preventable’ accident. Their investigation continues. The press release notes that there “were significant lapses in the plant's process safety management, including inadequate training on new equipment and the overriding of critical safety systems necessitated by the fact the unit had a heater that could not produce the required temperature for safe operation”. Additionally there is an ongoing look at the potential impact of employee fatigue on the incident. The inherently safer technology (IST) issues raised in Tuesday’s congressional hearing were briefly addressed in the press release. It notes that “other chemical companies, notably DuPont, no longer store MIC in their chemical production and we are looking into other systems that make and then immediately use the MIC, eliminating the need for storage”. Subcommittee Chair Stupak had charged CSB Chairman Bresland with making detailed IST recommendations as part of the final report on this incident. This evening’s community meeting will “will include a review of emergency response communications problems, chemical exposure symptoms for Methomyl and methyl isocyanate (MIC), and placement and protection of the MIC storage vessel”, according to this release.