Bitter War Of Words At The Chemical Safety Board


		AcuSafe -> May 2000 Newsletter
		Bitter War of Words at the Chemical Safety Board

On April 25, 2000, three members of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released to the public a summary analysis of allegations made by Paul L. Hill along with the full text of Dr. Hill's memorandum to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

According to a statement released by Member Drs. Jerry L. Poje, Isadore Rosenthal and Andrea Taylor: "Last week, Member Hill attacked the current management of the Chemical Safety Board through an internal memo raising allegations of misconduct. We had hoped to discuss this matter with him at a Board meeting scheduled for yesterday (April 24). Once again he has determined that other matters are more important, and has failed to attend to significant Board business."

According to Hill's internal memo, his primary message to the other three board members was to "Stop wasting precious resources on efforts to blame or punish other Board employees and members." He went on to quote specific comments that the US Senators made on the record April 12th.

Senator Lautenberg: "straighten up and fly right."
Senator Mikulski: "don't worry about who shot John."
Senator Bond: "just promising that things will get better ...is a triumph of faith over reality."

Hill further went on to say: "Consider that these accusations will require the current management to corroborate or defend against them based on the facts. I warned the Board last November (in writing) that your tactics would destroy the agency. I believe that you may now be on the verge of that achievement. While you may continue to ignore my concerns and counsel, you can ill afford to ignore those of Congress."

The three other board members retaliated with "The April 19, 2000, memorandum from Dr. Hill is only the latest in a series of destructive actions by him. Their net effect is to weaken the morale of CSB employees dedicated to meeting the CSB's performance objectives and to drain Board Members attention from more constructive activities."

A Related Matter Adds Fuel to the Fire

In a related matter, former CSB Investigator Valerie E. Barnes had provided the Senate Committee on appropriations a lengthy description of her perceptions of the Board's Investigation activity and the circumstances of her departure after only a few months of service. One of her allegations is that "Staff in the other Offices suggested to me that completing any more of the investigations initiated under the direction of Dr. Hill ... would demonstrate the effectiveness of his management and so the investigations had to be delayed or stopped. The second factor was that these same Board members and non-technical staff were intent on substituting their preferred root causes and safety recommendations for those supported by the facts of the cases. Some of the investigators, and the experts who had been hired to assist them in the cases, resisted."

But Business Goes On

But the CSB continues to press forward, albeit at a slower pace than in the past. According to Dr. Taylor, the Morton Incident will have a public hearing and preliminary review the end of June. This is over two years after the investigation started. The CSB's Investigation protocol is being finalized, but will be "field tested" on several actual incidents before being issued for public comment. And finally, a strategic planning meeting will be held with key stakeholders in Washington the end of July.

Note: The CIRC database of incidents continues to be updated regularly and does provide very timely information on incidents.