U.S. Chemical Safety Board
(CSB) has issued its final report on the January 2010 chemistry lab explosion
at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. The incident occurred during the
handling of explosive compounds and resulted in serious injuries to the graduate
student who was handling the material.
CSB recommendations to the university include revising and
expanding its chemical hygiene plan to identify and control the physical
hazards of chemicals, and implementation of an incident and near miss reporting
system so that lessons learned from laboratory incidents are documented and
communicated.
The report also calls on OSHA to develop a bulletin on controlling
physical hazards of chemicals in academic laboratories, and recommends that American
Chemical Society develop guidelines for evaluating and controlling hazards in
academic research labs.
CSB’svideo room features a video discussing this and other lab incidents.