Review - CSB Publishes Foundation Food Group Investigation Report

Yesterday, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) published their final investigation report on “Fatal Liquid Nitrogen Release at Foundation Food Group”. This incident involved a liquid nitrogen release at a chicken processing plant that killed six people by asphyxiation; four others were injured during the incident. The facility used liquid nitrogen to flash freeze cooked chicken products.

The Report identified five key safety issues:

• Single Point of Failure,

• Atmospheric Monitoring and Alarm Systems,

• Emergency Preparedness,

• Process Safety Management System, and

• Product Stewardship

The Board has issued twelve new safety recommendations associated with this incident to:

• Compressed Gas Association (2),

• Gold Creek Foods (current owner of the facility),

• International Code Council,

• Messer, LLC (2),

• National Fire Protection Association, and

• OSHA (5)

 

For more details about the contents of this report, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/csb-publishes-foundation-food-group - subscription required.

 

NOTE: According to the latest version of the CSB Investigation Closure Plan, there are two investigations remaining on the CSB backlog – KMCO, Crosby, TX,  4/2/2019 and Wendland 1H Well, Burleson County, TX, 1/29/2020.