U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	2007-P-00010
Office of Inspector General	March 26 2007
At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this review to
determine the extent to which
recipients adhere to closed safety
recommendations issued by the
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board (CSB).
Background
The Clean Air Amendments of
1990 authorized CSB to be
established, to investigate
accidents, and determine the
conditions or circumstances that
led to an event in an effort to
prevent future occurrences. Since
it was established in 1998,
through 2006, CSB issued 379
safety recommendations. The
CSB has closed 164 safety
recommendations directed to
facilities, corporations, trade
associations, and State and
Federal agencies.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional and Public Liaison
at (202) 566-2391.
To view the full report, click on the
following link:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2007/
20070326-2007-P-00010.pdf
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board Should Track Adherence to Closed
Recommendations
What We Found
Recipients have continued to adhere to closed recommendations issued by CSB.
Recipients cited various reasons for doing so. Most said they addressed closed
recommendations because they made sense and it was the right thing to do.
Although CSB has continued to increase its investigative productivity, it does
not conduct followup on closed recommendations to track adherence. As a
result, CSB may be unaware of whether report recipients continue to adhere to
recommended safety procedures or return to prior practices. The CSB's
guidance for developing and issuing recommendations requires followup on
open recommendations, but is silent regarding closed recommendations.
During our review, we received feedback from recommendation recipients
pertaining to improving the recommendations process. Followup on closed
recommendations would give CSB an opportunity to obtain feedback from its
customers that could improve CSB's practices.
What We Recommend
We recommend that CSB (1) revise its guidance, Board Order 022, to include
followup on closed recommendations and (2) follow up on a sample of closed
recommendations every 3 years and analyze whether adherence and/or
recipient conditions have changed. CSB concurred with our recommendations;
however, it did not address the frequency of analyzing closed
recommendations as we suggested. Per Office of Management and Budget
Circular A-50, we expect that CSB's response to these recommendations will
contain an action plan, with milestones, that will specify the size and frequency
of closed recommendation followup. We included CSB's complete response
in Appendix B.

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