Chemical Safety Board Chairman John Besland, left, and CSB Investigation Supervisor John Vorderbrueggen discuss the board’s final report on the February 2008 explosion that killed 14 workers at the Imperial Sugar refinery near Savannah, Ga. AP Photo.

During a public hearing last night in Georgia, the federal Chemical Safety Board tried to answer critics who complained the board had backed off its strong recommendation that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration write new rules to protect workers nationwide from the dangers of explosive dust.

In approving a final report on the disastrous explosion that killed 14 workers at and Imperial Sugar refinery, board members unanimously added this language as a recommendation to OSHA:

Proceed expeditiously, consistent with the Chemical Safety Board’s November 2006 recommendation and OSHA’s announced intention to conduct rulemaking, to promulgate a comprehensive dust standard to reduce or eliminate hazards from fire and explosion combustible powders and dust.

But the move did not satisfy the CSB’s critics. Evan Yeats of the United Food and Commercial Workers union told the Savannah Morning News that the board’s action was just a “public relations maneuver”:

It still could take years for OSHA to enact regulations using the current process, Yeats said. “We really can’t wait that long,” he said.

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In a Tuesday, June 24, 2008 file photo, a crane swinging a 7000 lb. ball continues the demolition of the 3 100-foot-tall silos at the Imperial Sugar Refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga., damaged in a 2008 explosion that killed 14 workers and injured 36 others.(AP Photo/Savannah Morning News, Steve Bisson, File)

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is taking some serious heat again today, this time for its decision to not repeat its previous recommendations that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration write tough standards regulating combustible dust in America’s workplaces.

Several labor organizations blasted the CSB for not including that recommendation in its report, issued today, on the February 2008 explosion that killed 14 workers at the Imperial Sugar refinery near Savannah, Ga.

Jackie Nowell, occupational safety and health director for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, said:

The CSB’s leadership is a remnant of the Bush administration’s dangerous legacy for America’s workers. If the board continues to ignore its obligation to oversee the scope of our safety regulations, it will require new leadership to assure that its mission is accomplished.

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On Feb. 7, 2008, 14 workers were killed and 38 others injured in a massive explosion at Imperial Sugar’s refinery northwest of Savannah, Ga.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is scheduled to release the findings of its investigation into the terrible explosion that killed 14 workers at a Georgia sugar refinery in February 2008.

It’s another big test for the CSB,  which has been under fire recently. Organized labor harshly criticized the board for backing off a strong recommendation on the need for OSHA and EPA to write new rules to prevent accidents involving highly reactive chemicals.  The board refused to support its own staff’s call for a safety bulletin and recommendations urging more controls on how workers handle the purging of gas lines.

When the Imperial Sugar report comes out, labor groups and safety advocates want to see the CSB repeat — in very tough terms — its previous call for OSHA to implement  a “comprehensive regulatory standard” aimed at preventing dust explosions across all industries nationwide.

Robyn Robbins, assistant director of occupational safety and health for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, told me this week:

We’d like to see the CSB issue clear, strong, substantive recommendations that give guidance to other facilities on how to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again, and also reiterate their call for an OSHA standard on combustible dust.

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