Chemical exposure at UCLA lab leads to fatal burning of student

This is from the latest AIHA updates I receive by email:

"Charges Filed in UCLA Lab Death 

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has charged the University of California and a UCLA chemistry professor with three counts each of willfully violating occupational safety standards in connection with a 2008 fire that fatally burned a staff research assistant.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, on Dec. 29, 2008, 23-year-old Sheharbano Sangji was not wearing a protective lab coat during an experiment involving t-butyl lithium, which catches fire easily when exposed to air. Sangji was transferring the substance from one container to another when the accident occurred. She suffered severe burns and died 18 days later.

UCLA and Sangji’s supervisor are accused of failing to correct unsafe work practices, failing to require adequate protective clothing and failing to provide proper safety training.

In a statement, UCLA called the charges “outrageous” and said that “the facts provide absolutely no basis for the appalling allegation of criminal conduct.”

The UCLA accident was one of several laboratory incidents that prompted the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) to produce a video on lab safety at academic institutions. For more information on lab safety, visit the CSB website."

Unfortunately, the conditions which caused the incident are not unique to this university.  Students aren't even covered by OSHA.  This was an employee--a staff research assistant who would be covered by OSHA or California OSHA in this case.  

Illinois university employees are covered by OSHA as a state-plan state for them, but in my recent experience, some administrators do not take safety and health as seriously as they should.

An institution can provide a higher level of care to those within its borders than required or even if not required.

Added on 1/25/12:
Cal OSHA's formal report is published on line at:  http://cen.acs.org/content/dam/cen/static/pdfs/Article_Assets/90/CalOSHA-report-UCLA.pdf