Safety flaws found before fatal UCLA lab fire - March 02, 2009
The Los Angeles Times reports worrying details on the tragic death of Sheri Sangji, a 23-year-old research assistant who suffered fatal third-degree burns after working with a pyrophoric liquid in a UCLA chemistry laboratory. The paper says that the Harran laboratory, where Sangji was working, had been safety checked a couple of months earlier and problems had been found.
Sangji died on 16 January, eighteen days after t-butyl lithium that she was syringeing from a bottle burst into flames, setting her clothes alight. The incident is under investigation by the California Division of Occupational Safety & Health (Cal/OSHA), and UCLA is conducting its own safety review.
According to the LA Times:
Two months earlier, UCLA safety inspectors found more than a dozen deficiencies in the same lab, Molecular Sciences Room 4221, according to internal investigative and inspection reports reviewed by The Times. Among the findings: Employees were not wearing requisite protective lab coats, and flammable liquids and volatile chemicals were stored improperly.Chemical Safety Officer Michael Wheatley sent the inspection report to the researcher who oversees the lab, professor Patrick Harran, as well as to the head of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department and a top UCLA safety official. The report directed that problems be fixed by Dec. 5. But the required corrective action was not taken, records show, and on Dec. 29 all that stood between Sangji's torso and the fire that engulfed her was a highly flammable, synthetic sweater that fueled the flames.
Comments
Sad. And preventable. It is true that not all accidents can be prevented. However safety starts from the top and it appears from the story that the professor and perhaps UCLA administration just did not care about enforcing safe practices. It does appear that the safety officers tried. But they, as staff members, all too often do not get support from the administration to stand up to the tenured, grant-pulling-in, ivory tower "I can do what I want" faculty. Granted Ms. Sangji could have practiced safety on her own -- but it is just as hard for a grad student or post-doc to stand up to errant faculty practices as it is for the staff to do so.
My wife is one of the safety officers here at Purdue and I get to hear tales like this all too often. How many deaths and blindings will it take until people at least try to prevent accidents?
Posted by: Rick Westerman | March 2, 2009 10:31 PM
It really bothers me that there was problems found in and still there was no action and it isn't until there is a fatality or an severe injury that people take those alerts seriously. Bummer.
Posted by: Ajlouny | June 24, 2009 03:25 AM