Bad Chemistry
Air Date: 05/13/2005
Reported by: Randy Price WHDHTV 7News
Producer: Marianne Mancusi
When Ellie Goldberg of Newton toured her children's high school she was shocked at what she saw in the chemistry lab.
"They could blow up or start a fire at any minute, and that could hurt my children," concerned mother Ellie Goldberg said.
"There were very old chemicals, there were unlabeled chemicals, there were all sorts of hazards," Goldberg said.
These hazards prompted her to call the state inspector who agreed that these conditions could cause "unexpected fires, explosions, or release of toxic
fumes and gasses into the occupied spaces of the school."
"It was a very serious threat. My kids were in the building and I wanted them safe," Goldberg said.
Across Massachusetts, safety experts say middle and high school science labs are overflowing with dangerous chemicals that have the potential to
ignite, burn and even explode.
"They can be toxic, they can be flammable. They can be corrosive and they can be reactive," Jim Kaufman of the Laboratory Safety Institute said.
Last month in Exeter, New Hampshire, several students had to be hospitalized after a chemical spill in the classroom.
At an Everett catholic high school, an old, unstable chemical had to be detonated by the bomb squad.
Last year in California a 16-year-old stole bomb-making materials intending to blow up the school.
"The number one concern is keeping the door locked, so somebody doesn't help themselves to something," Kaufman said.
Photos obtained by 7News show hazards found during safety inspections at New England area schools. Overcrowded shelves and deteriorated
containers, high-risk explosive chemicals like bromine. Cancer causing chemicals like dioxane. Even a bottle of nitroglycerin, a substance that's
extremely unstable.
"I think it's really important that people think about what's behind those locked doors, what's inside those chemical storage closets, but experts don't
blame the schools themselves. Properly disposing of these chemicals can cost thousands of dollars; money not in their budget," Natick High School
Science Department Chair Kathi Brown said.
"The disposal of chemicals can be a challenge," Kaufman said.
So to help, the state has begun a new program that matches schools with local businesses that can help with chemical management.
Natick High is one of the pilot schools being mentored by Boston Scientific.
"We're managing labs all the time and we should be able to transfer that expertise into a school system," Boston Scientific Environmental Health and
Safety Manager Roy Barker said.
Of course, the number of mentor volunteers limits the program. Right now there are only three schools in the program, and the need is much greater.
"There's probably a good 200 schools that also can use this support," Director of Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance Paul Richard said.
As for Goldberg, the state made her kids school clean up their act. She suggests other parents insist their communities' cleanup the chemical labs as
well to prevent a case of bad chemistry.
Man Crushed to Death In Work Accident
Updated 5:37 PM CDT, Mon, Feb 23, 2009
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A day laborer died Monday after a piece of equipment fell and crushed him at a Dallas business, Dallas Fire Rescue
officials said.
It happened at about 11:50 a.m. at the Environmental Testing Lab in the 11000 block of Indian Trail.
Gregg Pitcher, 45, of Richardson, was sweeping the grounds when a 12,000 to 16,000 pound tank used to hold liquids
toppled over and crushed him, a Dallas police spokesman said.
A co-worker who discovered the toppled piece of equipment and saw the victim trapped underneath called 911. The owner
of the company lifted the piece of equipment off of Pitcher with a forklift, but it was too late, Dallas Fire Rescue officials
said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Dallas Police Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are conducting their investigations
into what happened.
"One of the wheels was missing. That may have caused the center of gravity to shift," said Ernest Gurule of Dallas Fire
Rescue. "But he had no responsibility to do anything that would make him come into contact with that piece of equipment.
He was a day laborer."
Texas A&M Chemistry Building Explodes!
An early morning explosion in the Texas A&M Chemistry Building has prompted further investigation into the
incident.
The blast occurred at approximately 3 a.m. in a third floor laboratory of the building, said Bart Humphreys, the
College Station Fire Department (CSFD) public information officer. No one was injured, he said.
Officials have not determined the cause of the explosion.
"We know there were several processes going on in the lab that were usually put away in the evening,"
Humphreys said. "We will look into that, but as of now the cause is undetermined."
Two people had been sent in to investigate the laboratory and reported extensive damage to the area,
Humphreys said.
"There are reports of vapors still present in the air on the third floor," he said. "We don't want to expose our
people to dangerous chemicals and of course we don't want to expose the public either."
A graduate student worker who asked to remain anonymous said students heard the explosion had caused a
large cylinder, possibly containing nitrogen, to leave a hole in the laboratory ceiling.
"In the lab there is a small room with instruments," the student said. "We heard another cylinder broke through
the wall and made a pretty large hole."
Low water pressure levels may have prompted officials to check the laboratory, the student said.
"We had heard they found out the water pressure in that area was not good," the student said. "They may have
noticed it was abnormal and gone to check the water or air pipes."
The student said they did not believe a student was present in the building at the time of the explosion.
"There would not be a student in the building at that time," the student said. "A safety person might have been
there, but they would be down on the first floor and the explosion was up on the third floor."
The building is expected to reopen Friday, with access restricted to the affected areas of the building,
according to a press release issued by the University.
Don't touch those files.
This week, a federal court jury awarded $175,000 in damages to Philip Stotter, a former chemistry professor at the
University of Texas at San Antonio, for the loss of research materials tossed out by school officials during a forced
cleaning of Stotter's laboratory.
The jury held former UTSA provost Guy Bailey personally responsible for failing to give Stotter adequate notice
before throwing out his personal property, sending the message that government administrators are not always
protected by the state's immunity from being sued, said Regina Criswell, Stotter's lawyer.
“If they want to avoid these kinds of judgments, they need to make sure everybody's rights are being considered,
not just what the university determines is their right,” Criswell said.
Bailey, now president of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, declined to comment pending an appeal.
Criswell said there's no question Stotter's lab was a mess and a safety hazard. But the jury found that Bailey
violated Stotter's right to due process by failing to give the professor adequate notice before the cleanup to come
gather his personal belongings. As a result, 35 years' worth of research went in the trash, Criswell said.
“That was his symphony, his musical composition, his novel,” Criswell said.
The saga began in 1999, when an inspection of Stotter's lab concluded that some chemicals needed re-labeling,
corrosive chemicals were stored improperly and that additional storage cabinets were needed. In legal documents,
UTSA officials say they asked Stotter repeatedly to clean up the lab and claim Stotter never did.
On Feb. 23, 2001, Bailey sent a certified letter to Stotter saying that UTSA had shuttered his lab and would clean it
Feb. 26. The letter directed him to arrange for a police escort to pick up his personal belongings before that date.
The letter did not arrive until Feb. 28, two days after the lab had been cleaned and his notebooks discarded.
Shortly after that, administrators fired Stotter, a tenured professor who had been at the university for 27 years.
Stotter appealed to a faculty panel, which found no just cause for termination. But UT regents have the final say,
and they upheld Stotter's firing.
Stotter sued UTSA over his firing, but all of his claims were dismissed. In 2007, a federal appeals court ruled that
Bailey could be held personally liable for his role in the matter and allowed that claim to move forward.
Tom Johnson, executive director of the Texas Faculty Association, said he cheered the victory Stotter won Thursday
but did not think it would change the behavior of administrators.
“Public institutions are organs of the state, so they always throw up this sovereign immunity defense. It is absurd,”
Johnson said.
Stotter, now in his late 60s, is partially retired and is doing consulting work in the chemistry field, Criswell said. But
he would still like to pursue his research.
“If we could find those notebooks, he wants them back,” Criswell said. “He could use his research to publish.”
UCLA lab assistant dies
23 January 2009
The recent death of a research assistant at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from injuries sustained while working with
a pyrophoric chemical have led to internal and external scrutiny of the university's laboratory safety procedures. The tragic event, which
involved t-butyl lithium, a compound that spontaneously ignites on exposure to air, could have widespread implications for academic
chemistry departments.
'Every single major university will have to look at their policies regarding the handling of this type of material and will make adjustments
accordingly,' Russ Phifer, who chairs the American Chemical Society's chemical safety committee, tells Chemistry World. 'Some may
restrict the use of pyrophoric materials, or put protocols in place that require additional training for researchers.'
Phifer notes that several important lab safety rules appear to have been violated by the victim - Sheharbano Sangji, a 23-year-old
research assistant employed at UCLA since October. For example, Sangji was working alone in the lab, which is prohibited, and it
appears that she was not wearing the appropriate protective clothing.
Flash fire
UCLA had told its researchers that they could work during the holiday break shut down for 'critical research needs,' and on 29
December Sangji was working with a bottle of t-butyl lithium dissolved in pentane. While using a syringe to withdraw a quantity of the
reagent, it seems she accidentally pulled the plunger all the way out, introducing air and creating a flash fire.
The incident raises questions about Sangiji's training and supervision. 'Sangji was not familiar enough with the material and delivery
means to be doing the experiment on her own,' says Phifer.
The university believes Sangji was wearing nitrile gloves, safety glasses rather than goggles, and a synthetic sweater with no lab coat.
When the fire ignited the gloves and the sweater, she sustained second and third degree burns over 40 per cent of her body and was
immediately hospitalized. UCLA was notified on 16 January that she had died of her injuries.
After the incident and before Sangji's death, UCLA launched a full review of its laboratory safety protocols. The review is in progress,
and the university says it is also cooperating with a separate investigation being conducted by state regulators at the California Division
of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA. The investigation is likely to take two to three months, the regulator says,
and any citations could bring fines ranging from $500 to upwards of $250,000.
'I would not be surprised if Cal/OSHA fines UCLA if, for example, the school can't document appropriate training,' Phifer adds.
'My hope would be that this raises awareness about the dangers of working in a chemistry lab,' states Robert Latsch, an environmental
safety and compliance officer at Case Western Reserve University's Department of Occupational and Environmental Safety. He says
the UCLA accident was preventable and hopes it triggers at least an evaluation of chemistry lab safety procedures at his university and
others.
Rebecca Trager, US correspondent for Research Day USA
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
USF grad student burns face in lab accident
TAMPA -- A University of South Florida graduate student burned his face with chemicals from the chemistry lab
Wednesday afternoon, according to Tampa Fire Rescue.
Yejiao Wang, 28, was on the working with a partner in class on the fourth floor of the university's science building
when he opened a container of butyl amine and it splashed in his face, said Lt. Meg Ross, of the university police
department.
According to fire rescue, butyl amine is a corrosive and flammable, so nearby classrooms were safely evacuated while
the hazardous materials team assessed the threat.
Wang was washed off in the lab's decontamination shower before being treated by Fire Rescue and taken to Tampa
General Hospital. Despite the dangerous nature of the chemicals, Fire Rescue officials said he was in good condition
after the accident.
Hazmat teams have ruled the building safe and said the spill was confined to the fourth floor classroom.
--Robbyn Mitchell, Times staff writer
CLEVELAND -- A biology professor at Cleveland State University has died after being shocked Tuesday.
According to a university spokesman, the Dr. Tarun K. Mal was working in a lab when he went to plug something
in. That’s when he apparently received the shock and collapsed. Students found him on the floor and called EMS,
but the professor died at the hospital.
Chemistry experiments and students sometimes don't mix
New Berlin West accident one of many nationwide in which youngsters are hurt
By AMY HETZNER
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: July 26, 2002
The scars remain, four months after Amber Schumacher and her early-morning chemistry class filed into the
New Berlin West High School theater for a science demonstration.
Sitting in the fourth row of the auditorium, Schumacher watched as her teacher
combined chlorides with methyl alcohol in a series of pie tins before lighting each. A
flash erupted from one of the pans, sending a fireball hurtling into the audience.
Schumacher's shirt and arms caught fire. She rolled on the ground to put them out, then
crawled out of the auditorium for help. She and three other students from the school
were eventually taken to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa for treatment
of second-degree burns.
"I'm not mad," said Schumacher, 17 and entering school this fall as a senior. She still
bears scars on her forearms from the March 11 incident, scars that she has been told
eventually will fade.
"It just shouldn't have happened, though."
But evidence nationwide suggests that such accidents are happening, and with growing
frequency as schools move toward more hands-on experimenting in science classrooms
that may not be equipped to handle the increased activity.
School Lab
Accidents
150
Number of students in the
United States seriously
injured in school laboratory
accidents in the past four
years, according to The
Associated Press. Some
say the number could be
higher.
Quotable
I'm not mad. It
just shouldn't have
happened,
though.
Across the country, at least 150 students have been seriously injured in school laboratory
accidents in the past four years, The Associated Press reports. Researchers, school
officials and insurance companies indicate the actual number could be higher.
Teacher burned
Only a year before the New Berlin accident, Waukesha North High School science
teacher Eric Franzen burned his face, arms and hands as he prepared for a demonstration
before his daughter's class from Lowell Elementary School, said Ryan Champeau, the
high school's principal.
- Amber
Schumacher,
17, New Berlin
West High School
student burned in
chemistry class
accident
"There was no negligence in any way that we could determine. It was just an accident," Champeau said.
"Sometimes bad things happen."
The likelihood of such accidents increases, however, when science teachers are not well-versed in safety and are
conducting experiments in laboratories not up to the latest standards, safety experts say.
The answer is to make sure teachers are adequately trained, not to cut down on the number of experiments, said
James Rickabaugh, superintendent of the Whitefish Bay School District.
"Obviously, when students begin to interact directly with chemicals and are engaged in experiments, it is, in a
pure sense, more dangerous than if they were just reading a textbook," he said. "The quality of learning is
higher," too.
Improving safety has been aggressively pursued in Wisconsin ever since research found lapses in teacher
training and other possible hazards in school science laboratories, said Shelley Lee, an education consultant for
the state Department of Public Instruction. Lee co-authored a report on the issue that was published last year.
According to that report, which was based on research conducted in 1999:



"Wisconsin teachers had a poor command of responsibilities listed in federal and state laws, codes and
standards," researchers determined after reviewing the results of a survey conducted at an annual meeting of
the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers.
Nearly 30% of surveyed school science labs did not have functioning exhaust hoods needed for proper
ventilation, 18% did not have eyewash stations, and 35% did not have first-aid kits on hand.
A little more than 53% of teachers never received safety training, and 10% of those who did have training had
received it more than 10 years previously.
Training provided
Since those findings, the DPI has conducted about 25 training sessions with representatives from about 400 of
the state's 426 school districts, Lee said.
In addition, as school districts have looked to build new schools or renovate old ones, more and more are using
current safety standards in designing lab space, she said.
"I would say that the state is in a much better position than we were even when we did the research three years
ago because of the safety training," Lee said. "There's a lot of really positive, proactive things we have been
doing."
Accidents still can happen.
The science laboratories at New Berlin West were remodeled two years ago, adding eyewash stations and
showers, as well as other safety features, said Anthony Goedheer, business manager for the New Berlin School
District.
But in March, when the chemistry demonstration went awry, it was in the school's theater to accommodate the
50 students involved.
The teacher performing the experiments, Matthew Vick, was an "intern teacher" on contract with the district
from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He had a chemistry degree and was working on his teaching
degree, and he was allowed to teach three periods a day on his own, police reports say.
Vick could not be reached for comment.
Vick's mentor teacher, who also brought a class to the theater to watch the demonstration, was not in the room
when Vick started burning a mixture of chloride and alcohol in six pie tins, part of an experiment to show
students how different chlorides emit different colors when they burn.
The folding table in the theater that Vick was using to hold the tins was smaller than one he had practiced with
at least three times before. He was pouring alcohol into one of the tins when a flame from a nearby tin ignited
the alcohol, he told police.
Frightening moment
Suddenly, a flame shot from the tin 20 feet into the audience, burning the clothes, hair and faces of four female
students and sending the rest of their class running for the exit. Vick jumped from the stage with a fire
extinguisher, unloading it on seats that glowed with flames.
Christin Schulz told police she felt the hot liquid hit her face, so she started rolling on the floor to put it out. She
crawled out of the theater without opening her eyes and, with the help of another student, was led to a
bathroom, where she splashed water on her face. Looking down in the sink, she could see her burned hair.
Meredith Hansen also ran into the bathroom to put water on her face. Her clothes never caught fire, but the
backs of both of her hands were burned, and she had burns along the right side of her face, neck and ear.
Kara Willey, who police noted had the most extensive burns of the four girls, felt her shirt and pants catch fire
after she saw the pan explode. She also rolled on the ground to put the flames out before running for the
bathroom. She suffered burns to her face, hair and wrists.
Schumacher said her injuries were the least severe of the four. Schulz, Hansen and Willey could not be reached
for comment.
Schumacher's shirt caught fire, and her arms and abdomen sustained burns, but her face was spared.
No lawsuits have been filed against the school district, but Schumacher said her family is contemplating legal
action.
Schumacher said that it took months for her to recover from the accident and that her arms still hurt when she
goes outside in direct sunlight.
But even when the scars fade, she said, she won't forget what happened that day.
"I knew right away that I was burning," Schumacher said. "I was on the ground actually, and my shirt and my
arms were both on fire."