USA – St. Louis Board of Aldermen Adopts CSB Recommendations Following the Loy-Lange Investigation
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) commended the city of St. Louis, Missouri, Board of Aldermen for implementing two important recommendations from the CSB’s investigation of the tragic explosion at the Loy-Lange Box Company in April 2017 that resulted in the deaths of four people.
On April 3, 2017, an explosion occurred at Loy-Lange when a pressure vessel catastrophically failed. The explosion fatally injured a Loy-Lange employee working nearby. The explosion also launched the pressure vessel out of the Loy-Lange building into the air, after which the vessel crashed through the roof of a nearby business, killing three other people.
When the CSB issued the agency’s final report for the investigation in July 2022, the CSB recommended that the Board of Aldermen revise the city’s Mechanical Code to adopt a national consensus standard to govern the requirements for the in-service inspection of boilers and pressure vessels in the city. The CSB also recommended that the Board of Aldermen revise the Mechanical Code to require that pressure vessel inspections be performed by an inspector meeting the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors’ (NBBI) standards for in-service (IS) inspections.
In response to the CSB recommendations, the Board of Aldermen recently approved revisions to the city’s Mechanical Code that standardize in-service inspections for pressure vessels and establish minimum qualifications for personnel conducting in-service inspections of boilers and pressure vessels. The updated ordinance, which took effect November 15, 2025, strengthens in-service inspections by requiring that they be conducted in accordance with the National Board Inspection Code. The updated ordinance also requires that such inspections be performed by a NBBI IS commissioned inspector.
CSB Chairperson Steve Owens said, “The Board of Aldermen have taken an extremely important step toward helping prevent another tragic incident like the one at Loy-Lange from happening again.”
The only remaining open recommendation from the CSB’s Loy Lange investigation was issued to the Mayor of St. Louis. The CSB recommended that the Mayor distribute and communicate the findings of the CSB’s investigation report to all licensed stationary engineers and all entities in St. Louis registered as owning/operating boilers and pressure vessels in the city. The CSB and the Mayor’s office have been actively communicating about the recommendation. The CSB is looking forward to the implementation of this final Loy Lange recommendation in the near future.
Source: CSB. All rights reserved.