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发帖数: 11162 | 1 Felony charges filed against UC and a UCLA chemistry professor after fatal
laboratory fire
A research assistant was fatally burned when chemicals burst into flame. Her
death three years ago has focused attention on safety issues.
December 28, 2011|By Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times
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Felony charges have been filed against the University of California and a
UCLA chemistry professor in connection with a laboratory fire that killed a
staff research assistant three years ago.
On Dec. 29, 2008, Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji, 23, was severely burned over
nearly half of her body when air-sensitive chemicals burst into flames
during an experiment and ignited her clothing. Sangji, who was not wearing a
protective lab coat, died 18 days later.
Her death raised questions about lab safety practices at UCLA and about
Sangji's training and supervision by professor Patrick Harran, a prominent
researcher who joined the faculty in July 2008.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charged Harran
and the UC regents with three counts each of willfully violating
occupational health and safety standards, resulting in Sangji's death.
Harran and UCLA are accused of failing to correct unsafe work conditions in
a timely manner, to require clothing appropriate for the work being done and
to provide proper chemical safety training.
An arrest warrant was issued for Harran, 42, who faces up to 41/2 years in
state prison, according to a district attorney's spokeswoman. Harran is out
of town and will surrender to authorities when he returns, said his lawyer,
Thomas O'Brien, who declined to comment further.
UCLA could be fined up to $1.5 million on each of the three counts. In
separate statements Tuesday, UCLA and the regents called the charges
unwarranted. UCLA's statement blasted them as "outrageous" and "appalling."
"This isn't justice," Kevin Reed, UCLA vice chancellor for legal affairs,
said in an interview. "What happened in December 2008 was a tragedy, an
unfathomable tragedy. It was not a crime."
Sangji's family, led by her older sister Naveen, has been harshly critical
of UCLA officials and the California Division of Occupational Safety and
Health's investigations. Naveen Sangji said Tuesday that she hopes the
criminal case goes to trial so her family "has the opportunity to speak to
the court" about what happened to her sister.
"As we have been saying all along, the filing of charges is the first step
toward any kind of justice for what Harran and UCLA did to our family," she
said. "It won't bring Sheri back, but we do hope this will help keep other
young people safe and keep other families from being destroyed."
Born and raised in Pakistan, Sheri Sangji graduated in 2008 from Pomona
College in Claremont and planned to become a lawyer. While applying to law
schools, she took a $46,000-a-year job in a lab run by Harran, a researcher
with a rising reputation in organic chemistry.
Sangji was transferring up to two ounces of t-butyl lithium from one sealed
container to another when a plastic syringe came apart in her hands, spewing
a chemical compound that ignites when exposed to air. The synthetic sweater
she wore caught fire and melted onto her skin, causing second- and third-
degree burns.
"I cannot describe the level of grief my family has experienced having
witnessed the excruciating pain our Sheri suffered in those horrifying days
at the burn center — and then losing her forever," Naveen Sangji said.
In May 2009, Cal/OSHA fined UCLA a total of $31,875 after finding that
Sangji had not been trained properly and was not wearing protective clothing.
"Sheri was an experienced chemist and published researcher who exuded
confidence and had performed this experiment before in my lab," Harran said
in a statement at the time.
Two months before the fatal fire, UCLA safety inspectors found more than a
dozen deficiencies in the same lab, according to internal investigative and
inspection reports reviewed by The Times. The inspectors found that
employees were not wearing requisite protective lab coats and that flammable
liquids and volatile chemicals were stored improperly.
But the required corrective actions were not taken before the fatal fire,
the records showed.
In response to Sangji's death, UCLA instituted a host of safety improvements
, including more rigorous lab inspections, more flame-resistant lab coats
and enhanced training in the use of safety gear and the handling of air-
sensitive chemicals. UCLA also established a Center for Lab Safety.
Tuesday's charges are thought to be the first stemming from an academic lab
accident, said Russ Phifer, executive director of the National Registry of
Certified Chemists and former head of the American Chemical Society's safety
division. Phifer said his research turned up only one other criminal case,
and it involved a commercial lab in the 1980s.
He said the Sangji case not only led to UCLA's improvements but has had a "
monster effect" on academic laboratory safety nationwide.
"It is probably the single most significant event in getting people's
attention," he said. "It is unfortunate, but there is nothing like an
accident — an injury or a death, and all that it entails — to get people's
attention." | y*z
发帖数: 3244 | 2 清华那个剥蚀猴，是他导致的爆炸么？抑或清华会把爆炸的责任撇给他。
人死了，国内的潜规则一般是把责任推给死者，其他人该升官的升官、该发财的发财。 | U**8
发帖数: 1921 | 3 教授被告了但好像没啥事啊？今年还当选院士了。清华出了这事10年之内教授肯定院士
没戏了，一辈子都没戏了。 | U**8
发帖数: 1921 | 4 UCLA出事那教授也就是白人，要是华人，估计早关大牢里被爆菊了。白人教授最后屁事
没有，还能当选院士，照拿NIH grant.最狗血的是事故发生了，接着就拿了一个Hanson
-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching。 | s******s
发帖数: 505 | 5 检方的证据很硬啊，希望把这个草菅人命的教授绳之以法。检查报告中几十个错误
deficiencies都没有改正，可以认为是 willingly故意了。检查报告中的术语一般是
deficiency, weakness, concern. 一个 deficiency就应该关闭实验室整改。发现了几
十个还允许它继续使用两个月，直到出人命，UCLA的责任是无法推脱的。
Her
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【在 T****t 的大作中提到】
: Felony charges filed against UC and a UCLA chemistry professor after fatal
: laboratory fire
: A research assistant was fatally burned when chemicals burst into flame. Her
: death three years ago has focused attention on safety issues.
: December 28, 2011|By Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times
: Email
: Share
: Felony charges have been filed against the University of California and a
: UCLA chemistry professor in connection with a laboratory fire that killed a
: staff research assistant three years ago.
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