Why Scary Lab Accidents Happen

About 10 to 50 times more lab accidents occur in schools and universities than in industry.

Enrico Uva, Science 2.0

If a chemist has never been in a lab accident, he has been lucky. Of course luck is more likely to come to those whose mentors have learned from bad experiences and to those who have taken preventive measures seriously, despite their anal nature. Chemical reactions create products with behaviors that differ from those of the ingredients. That's what makes them intriguing, and it's also what makes them potentially dangerous. No matter how simple and controllable a reaction seems on paper, when it's carried out in real life, the exact conditions determine its rate. And when gases or acids acquire too much kinetic energy, no one wants eyes, lungs and flesh in their way.

UCLA Professor Arraigned in Fatal Accident

LA Times

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge entered a not guilty plea Wednesday on behalf of a UCLA chemistry professor arraigned on felony charges in a 2008 laboratory fire that killed a staff research assistant.

Judge Shelly Torrealba also set a preliminary hearing on Oct. 9 for professor Patrick Harran, who is charged with three counts of willfully violating state occupational health and safety standards.

Exploding Experiment, No Injuries

UC Davis Report

Failure to maintain equipment properly has apparently resulted in another academic lab safety incident, but one that, fortunately, caused no injuries, reports Jyllian Kemsley at Chemical & Engineering News. On 23 January, undergraduates in a physical chemistry class at the University of California, Davis, were working with a piece of equipment called a bomb calorimeter when it exploded. (Despite its name, that is not supposed to happen.) The lid of the metal instrument was "forcibly propelled upward" until it hit the ceiling and other metal fragments and pieces of a mercury thermometer were sprayed into the room, according to a report on the event by a university chemical hygiene officer.

Fire in Chemistry Lab Cancels Classes & Sends Students Home

wwnytv.com

After a fire at a science lab on Friday February 10th, class at SUNY Canton were cancelled until Monday February 20th. Black smoke was seen coming from Cook Hall, which caused the campus to be closed and activities cancelled. Significant damaged was caused to the lab. No one was injured in the fire; however, and currently the cause of the fire is unknown. 

Two stories are available BELOW, both with video.

Building Evacuated - One Injured

From: The Daily Cardinal

www.chemicallabels.com/

Biochemistry building evacuated, one injured after chemical spill
A hazardous materials crew, police officers, ambulances and fire trucks responded to a chemical spill in a UW-Madison biochemistry laboratory after a graduate student spilled a highly flammable solvent, injuring one person.

According to a graduate student in the Biochemistry building, the student spilled about 40 liters of tetrahydrofuran (THF), a chemical that can dissolve a wide range of materials including latex gloves, flooring and other plastics, in the Ronald Raines laboratory between 10:15 and 10:45 a.m.

UCLA 2009 Incident - Felony Charges

Sangji's lab notebook reveals that she

planned to react vinyl bromide with

tert-butyllithium as the first step of a

larger synthesis. ACS

Below are articles reviewing the most recent information on the investigation.

Los Angeles Times

Felony charges filed against UC and a UCLA chemistry professor after fatal laboratory fire

A research assistant was fatally burned when chemicals burst into flame. Her death three years ago has focused attention on safety issues.

December 28, 2011

Lab Explosion Sends Student to Hopital

By: Nathan Crabbe; The Gainsville Sun

Doug Finger/Staff photographer

A University of Florida laboratory explosion last week caused chemical burns on a graduate student's face and lips, the skin to be torn from his fingertips, and glass to become embedded in his chest and abdomen, according to a police report released Wednesday.

Graduate student Khanh Ha, 27, was conducting research on cyclic peptides in the Sisler Hall laboratory of chemistry professor Alan Katritzky when the Jan. 11 accident happened. Ha told UF police that he was doing an experiment with sodium azide, a shock-sensitive compound, and an acid before the explosion.

Texas Tech Building Evacuated After 2nd Explosion

By: Adam D. Young; Lubbock Avalanche-Journal 

Stephen Spillman

The second chemical explosion in two weeks at Texas Tech prompted campus officials to evacuate an engineering building late Thursday.

Nobody was injured or contaminated after what Tech spokesman Chris Cook called a small explosion about 7:15 p.m. in a laboratory in the Engineering and Technology Lab off the school’s engineering key at Canton Avenue and Glenna Goodacre Boulevard.

Academic Lab Safety Under Examination

Chemical safety board report probes academic research practices, identifies role for American Chemical Society (ACS )

From: Chemical & Engineering News

By: Jeff Johnson And Jyllian Kemsley

Source:Texas Tech University

A fire at one university that led to a researcher’s death and an explosion at another that seriously injured a graduate student are among several incidents in the past few years that have turned a spotlight on safety practices in academic chemistry laboratories. 

Since 2001, more than 120 university lab accidents have caused injuries, millions of dollars in damages, and one death, according to the federal Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).

OSHA Releases New Lab Safety Materials

From: Occupational Health and Safety Online

OSHA recently published new educational materials for laboratory managers on protecting their workers from exposure to chemical, biological, and physical hazards on the OSHA laboratory safety website.

The new materials include the Laboratory Safety Guidance document, which describes how electrical, fire, explosions, and falls, among other hazards, can be minimized or eliminated if employers use safety plans, worker training, engineering controls, and personal protective equipment. New laboratory safety materials also include fact sheets that each focus on a specific hazard related to laboratory environments. Practices and precautions to protect laboratory personnel include safety guidance for using autoclaves, use of chemical fume hoods, labeling and transferring chemicals, and latex exposure.

Two Injured in University of Maryland Chemistry Lab Explosion

By: Andrea Noble
The Washington Times

Associated Press

Two University of Maryland students were injured Monday in the College Park campus’s Chemistry Building when a chemical reaction caused an explosion and small fire in the lab where they were working.

The two women were taken to a hospital with first-degree chemical burns and minor lacerations but were in good condition, Prince George’s County fire department spokesman Mark Brady said. The explosion occurred during an afternoon chemistry class as students were working with nitric and sulfuric acid.

Student Loses Eye in Chemistry Explosion

By: Michael Kaplan & Natalie Martinez
NBCChicago.com

A 16-year-old-boy lost his left eye Tuesday after a plastic bottle containing dry ice and water exploded during a chemistry class at a southwest suburban high school, a suit filed Friday claims.

Dillon Mantia was taking part in a chemistry experiment at Harold L. Richards High School in Oak Lawn when the teacher combined dry ice and water in a plastic water bottle and sealed it tightly with a cap, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

School Lab Made Safe by Bomb Team

from: Irish Examiner

An Army bomb disposal team made safe a quantity of unstable chemical at Ashbourne Community College, Co Meath this morning.

The Defence Forces deployed the team to Ashbourne Community College where the unstable chemical 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine had been found during a routine audit of chemicals in the school laboratory.

Chemical Safety Incidents and Fatalities

For those looking for a compilation of chemical safety incidents and fatalities check out the two sites below.

The AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee tracks laboratory safety incidents HERE. A variety of information can be found on their website HERE.

The Laboratory Safety Institute tracks laboratory fatalities on its Memorial Wall, which can be found HERE.

These two resources are useful for emphasizing the impacts of poor planning and unsafe conditions.

Jewelry Studio Incident Sends Student to Hospital

LONGMONT, Colo. -- Authorities say a Front Range Community College student has been taken to a hospital after she suffered burns while diluting a chemical in a jewelry studio classroom.

Longmont emergency manager Dan Eamon tells the Daily Times-Call the woman was injured Saturday by a chemical reaction while she was diluting ferric chloride. The chemical is often used for water treatment and to etch metal.

Lab Fire Washington University, St. Louis

By: Michael Tabb 
Student Life, March 30, 2011

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Three fire departments and at least nine fire trucks respond to a lab mishap with a reaction experiment in an environmental nanochemistry laboratory of Brauer Hall brought at least nine fire trucks to the northeast of campus Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured and, according to fire department officials at the scene, damage was negligible.

UMass: Chemical Spill Shuts Down Goessman Building

By: Jeff Bernstein/Collegian
Collegian News Staff
March 23, 2011

By: Jeff Bernstein

At around 4:00 p.m., Goessman was all cleared by the hazardous materials team, said Thomas O’Regan, emergency management and business continuity manager. The dean and provost will work to finalize the rescheduling of classes in Goessman.

The Goessman laboratory building has been shut down and evacuated after a chemistry department faculty member found a leaking ammonia tank at 10 a.m. this morning, said Daniel Fitzgibbons, associate director of news and media relations at the University of Massachusetts.

Food Tainted with Chemical Sickens Employees

By: Katherine Perry
95.9 WATD, Marshfield Broadcasting Company

Two Bridgewater State University employees were taken to the hospital after they were sickened by an unknown chemical Thursday.

At 11:41 a.m. the Bridgewater fire department was called to Bridgewater State University and began a tier 1 haz-mat response-- the least serious response level.

Two food service employees were working near a dishwasher and food disposal area in a kitchen in the east campus commons, when they became ill.

New Bedford School Science Lab Fire

By: Anika Clark
aclark@s-t.com
SouthCoastToday.com
November 02, 2010

NEW BEDFORD — Keith Middle School is closed today after a smoky fire broke out Monday night in a first-floor science prep room, where hazmat crews earlier in the day had cleaned out an acid wash tank which had filled with chemicals several weeks ago.

"It appears that there (were) some chemicals involved in the fire," Fire Chief Brian Faria said. "Smoke was going on three floors of the building."

At press time, the chemicals had not been identified.

At 10:20 p.m., Southcoast Hospitals spokeswoman Joyce Brennan said 10 firefighters had come in to be checked out. "They (are) all expected to be treated and released at this time."

As emergency personnel investigated the cause of smoke reported by school custodial staff shortly before 7 p.m., they identified the source as a fire in a first-floor science room, District Fire Chief Scott Kruger said.

He said the fire appeared to be caused by a chemical reaction.

Ph.D. Program Rankings Lack Safety Considerations

By Jyllian Kemsley • Posted in Academia, Education, In the News, Safety Culture

September 28th, 2010

The National Research Council’s assessment of graduate programs is out today. To quote from my colleague Carmen Drahl’s story, “The rankings cover doctoral programs in disciplines ranging from aerospace engineering to theater. Those for chemistry alone evaluate over 150 departments on each of 20 criteria, which fall under the broader categories of research activity, student support and outcomes, and diversity.” The goal is to provide data that can be used to evaluate the quality of programs. But it seems to me that the survey is woefully lacking on the occupational health and safety front.

On the student support front, here are some of the related questions on