Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board Finally Set To Start Up

Abstract

When the new year begins, so will a new governmental organization of crucial importance to the chemical industry, and to the public—the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSHIB). Based in Washington, D.C., the board, whose five members will serve for five years each, will investigate accidents in chemical process operations and do research in the field of chemical safety. It is patterned after the 38-year-old National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Its chairman is Paul L. Hill Jr., who for the past six years has been president of the National Institute of Chemical Studies in Charleston, W.Va. The board was mandated by the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act but was slow getting started. Worried that Congress had given itself too much control over the board, the Bush Administration took its time making nominations. It eventually did so late in 1992. But by then, the Presidential election was at hand, Bill Clinton won, the ...