CSB Publishes Emergency Pressure Venting Systems Alert

Yesterday, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board announced the publication of a new CSB Safety Alert dealing with emergency pressure relief systems (EPRS). The CSB notes that the discharge from such safety systems has contributed to death, injuries, and substantial facility damage in four incident investigations conducted by the Board.

The Safety Alert reviews those four incidents and discusses how the design of the atmospheric discharge for the EPRS contributed to the outcomes at the facilities. While no new recommendations are made, the Alert combines the EPRS related recommendations from the final reports of those incidents into three action categories that should be reviewed by facility engineering teams:

• Follow existing good practice guidance from industry standards associations,

• Evaluate whether the atmosphere is the appropriate discharge location or if there are safer alternatives, and

• Ensure hazardous chemicals vented into the atmosphere discharge to a safe location.

An Appendix to the Report lists each of the EPRS related recommendations issued by the Board in those four incidents, along with the current status of the response to the recommendations.