Focus is on three lab incidents -- two of them fatal
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has released a new safety video on the potential hazards associated with conducting research at chemical laboratories in academic institutions.
The 24-minute video focuses on three serious laboratory accidents: the death of a lab research assistant in 2008 in a flash fire at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA); a death by accidental poisoning of a highly regarded Dartmouth College professor in 1997; and a 2010 explosion at Texas Tech University (TTU) that severely injured a graduate student, who lost three fingers in the blast and suffered eye damage.
Entitled “Experimenting with Danger” the video notes that the CSB has collected preliminary data on 120 explosions, fires, and chemical releases at university laboratories and other research facilities that occurred around the country since 2001, causing deaths, serious injuries, and extensive property damage.