Lab Safety: Must We Learn from our Mistakes?
All chemists will agree that laboratory safety is the first priority when it comes to experimentation in the lab. Proper practice, lab safety equipment and supervision are necessities when working in the lab. Most of all, prior preparation will assure that an accident doesn’t take place. Looking at recent laboratory accidents and tragedies, it seems that chemists are still learning lab safety the hard way. By analyzing these students’ mistakes, many chemists can avoid these types of occurrences in the future.
UCLA Safety Violations
One of the more recent headlines in the chemistry world came from the prestigious Univ. of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). One of the school’s research assistants – Sheri Sangji – was killed in a tragic accident in 2009. She suffered from serious burns while working on her own in UCLA’s Harran organic chemistry lab. She was using pyrophoric liquid, which is what caused her to incur the fatal injury. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health found that the incident had occurred because of inadequate training and a lack of supervision.
Patrick Harran, the lab supervisor, had criminal charges raised against him, as well as the university. However, UCLA reached an agreement to settle the charges in July 2012. Both parties (UCLA and Harran) agreed to comprehensive corrective safety measures and established a scholarship in Sheri Sangji’s name. Even with the reached agreement, this was still not the end of the prosecution. Criminal prosecutor’s agreed to send a court order to Harran on April 26th. He is being charged with three criminal counts of violating occupational health and safety laws that had led to the tragic death of Sangji. Harran faces up to four-and-a-half years in prison if convicted.
One accident is still too many
Many would think that the tragic events that took place at UCLA would bring revolution to the health and safety side of Laboratory practice. This apparently was not the case. There was another recent school science laboratory-related accident that had also occurred this year. This time, it was an explosion that resulted from a chemical spill at a school in Kampung, Pandan.
The explosion took place after eight barrels of chemicals were being transported for disposal. The driver was a private contractor hired by the school. The explosion erupted after one of the barrels flipped over and spilled, which caused a fire to ignite the remainder of the chemical waste. Twenty-five firemen were dispatched to the scene, and put the fire out within minutes. Hazmat officials were also called to the scene because chemicals had spilled and nineteen students and one teacher experienced symptoms of nausea after inhaling the fumes. They received outpatient treatments and no injuries were reported.
Avoiding tragedy
So the main question is, “How do we avoid lab safety issues?” The answer is clear, but may not be as easy as we think. In the two tragic and dangerous cases highlighted earlier, many would agree that proper supervision is a no-brainer and could be the vital step in avoiding an accident. The tragedy at UCLA could have been easily avoided if proper precaution was taken. This also holds true for the incident that had occurred in Kampung.
Educational systems need to focus on emphasizing lab safety when students are actively engaged in the lab. This can include proper supervision, safe lab equipment and practicing cautious chemistry. The answer is simple and easy to implement in an educational setting. However, the problem is that many feel there is not enough push in the science world that would reach a level of comfort when it comes to safety. We can only hope that we learn from accidental spills and tragic deaths to help avoid it from occurring in the future. The ultimate goal is to promote lab-safety and prepare for un-foreseen mistakes.
Writer Biography
Brendan Kenny is a blogger who actively engages science and chemistry professionals. He began writing after he graduated from Marist College in the spring of 2012. He began working for a health-care supply company that actively engages its online community. Through his efforts, he hopes to bring revolution to the chemistry community by promoting lab safety and proper practice. If you wish to reach Brendan Kenny, please click here.
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