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* J- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	n-p-0115
f KM ro	nffironflncnorW^onoral	February 15, 2011
•	U • O • L. I I V 11 UI 111 It? I I LCI I I I UlUUU
	 \ Office of Inspector General
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
We initiated this audit to
determine whether the Chemical
Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board (CSB) implemented audit
recommendations from three
Offices of Inspector General
(OIGs) and the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO),
and whether the corrective
actions taken were effective.
Background
In fiscal year (FY) 2000, GAO
began to report problems with
CSB's policies, management,
procedures, and overall
governance. From FYs 2002
through 2007, three OIGs
provided oversight and made
recommendations to address
governance issues. In FY 2008,
in response to a mandate in the
Joint Explanatory Statement that
accompanied the consolidated
Appropriations Act, GAO
examined how CSB responded to
GAO and OIG recommendations.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public Affairs and
Management at (202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2011/
20110215-11-P-0115.pdf
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board Did Not Take Effective Corrective
Actions on Prior Audit Recommendations
What We Found
CSB did not take timely corrective actions to address a total of 34 audit
recommendations from three OIGs and from GAO. In four instances, it took
CSB 4 years beyond the agreed-upon corrective actions date (or report date) to
implement corrective actions. CSB's actions to address 13 recommendations
were not completely effective and require additional corrective actions, and
7 recommendations are not yet completed. CSB has not established and
implemented a management control program to evaluate and report on the
effectiveness of controls related to its program operations.
CSB's control environment and control activities do not ensure accountability.
Specifically, CSB's office directors are not accountable for achieving
individual and program initiatives leading to chemical accident prevention.
Effective control activities, including Board Orders, have not been developed
and implemented. In addition, without a clearly defined statutory mandate,
CSB will face difficulties in developing outcome-related goals for measuring
its impact on chemical accident prevention. Without effective controls, CSB is
not timely in carrying out initiatives to achieve the board's goal of chemical
accident prevention.
On September 16, 2010, CSB announced an internal reorganization, appointing
a managing director who will oversee all aspects of CSB operations. A
managing director who ensures accountability should provide for more timely
and effective resolution of audit recommendations.
What We Recommend
We recommend that the Chairman, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board, create a management control plan, take actions to fully address all
outstanding audit recommendations, and further improve upon actions taken on
previous recommendations. CSB concurred with all of our new
recommendations and developed timelines and completion dates for the
corrective actions. CSB's comments are summarized in each chapter and the
entire response is included as appendix C.

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