NYC tenth grader in critical condition after lab accident
CSB: “a preventable accident”
An explosion during a chemistry class science experiment last week sent two students from a Manhattan high school to the hospital with burns to their face, hands and neck. One of them, 16-year-old Alonzo Yanes, is in critical condition in the burn unit of a local hospital. The other sustained first degree burns.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which investigates chemical accidents, expressed frustration over the incident, which was similar to a high school lab accident in 2006 that was highlighted in a CSB video safety message. Entitled “After the Rainbow,” – a reference to the name of the experiment at the center of both incidents – the video features accident survivor Calais Weber in her own words describing how at age 15 she was burned over 40 per cent of her body during a chemistry demonstration performed by her teacher at a prestigious boarding school she attended in Ohio.