The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) recently received a “Silver Play Button” award from YouTube for reaching 100,000 subscribers. The CSB’s YouTube channel, @USCB, features the agency’s safety videos and currently has 364,000 subscribers.
CSB designed its safety video program to enhance public safety, protect workers and communities, and inform the chemical industry of ways to help prevent catastrophic chemical accidents.
CSB noted in a press release that it’s a small federal agency with a tight annual budget, and its YouTube channel has been an efficient and effective way to share important investigation findings and safety lessons to a large audience. The chemical industry uses CSB’s safety videos for safety training and in curricula to help educate chemical engineers and safety professionals about chemical hazards.
Since its launch in 2007, CSB’s YouTube channel has featured nearly 100 safety videos that have received over 65 million combined views, said the agency. Its most recent video launched on Jan. 7, on the 2020 Bio-Lab fire and toxic gas release in Westlake, Louisiana, currently has more than 240,000 views.
Some more widely viewed accident investigation and safety videos have more than 3 million views. These include the November 2019 explosions and fires at the TPC Group Chemical Plant in Port Neches, Texas; the January 2018 blowout and fire at the Pryor Trust gas well in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma; and incidents at the DuPont plant in Belle, West Virginia, in January 2010.
In 2023, CSB also earned Silver Telly Awards in the non-broadcast Health and Safety category for two of its safety videos. The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens.
