Recently, felony charges were filed against a professor personally and the University of California Los Angeles for safety violations that resulted in the fatal injuries a student received in a laboratory fire, explains an attorney. While the grounds for such charges are already somewhat controversial given the findings of an investigation of the accident, there is also much speculation as to whether the legal action against the school will result in higher safety standards in academic labs or serve to stifle future research.
The accident occurred in 2008 when staff research assistant Sheri Sangji, was intending to scale up a chemical reaction she had run in the past. During the course of the experiment, she was using a plastic syringe to draw up tert-butyliithium (tBuLi) when an accident with the syringe plunger caused the tBuLi to come into contact with an open flask of hexane located in the fume hood where she was working. The solvent, and Sangji, caught fire.
Sangji had been wearing gloves and a lab coat, but the coat was not flame retardant. She did not use the safety shower available in the room. Other students and researchers came to her aid, contacting 911 and getting Professor Harran from his office on the second floor. By the time Harran reached the lab, Sangji's hands, neck and torso were badly burned and blisters were beginning to form. She was, however, conscious and talking.
When emergency crews responded, Harran met them to show them where to go. Sangji was decontaminated at the safety shower and then transported to the Ronald Reagan Medical Center. She was subsequently moved to the Grossman Burn Center, where she died on January 16.
Since Sangji was employed at the laboratory, the Occupational Health and Safety Commission investigated the accident. The agency found the school and its biochemistry department to be in violation of several safety standards, including ones concerning training, documentation of training, and regulating the use of protective gear and equipment in the lab. OSHA, however, found no willful violations.
Despite the absence of any willful violations, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office filed criminal charges against professor Harran personally and against the university last December. The charges are based on a California law that criminalizes the willful violation of safety and health standards resulting in fatal injury, explains an attorney.
While the discrepancy between OSHAs investigation of the accident and the basis for the District Attorneys charges is one reason for the controversy surrounding the case, there is also much speculation about its impact on academic research. Although some argue the legal actions brought against UCLA will prompt schools to improve their safety regulations concerning labs and enforcement efforts, others contend the case may ultimately stifle research. Assigning criminal responsibility to a professor for failure to adequately supervise an experienced researcher in a lab could potentially have a chilling effect on studies conducted by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in general; it could also have significant and far reaching implications far beyond the University of California Los Angeles.
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