In response to the death of a UCLA researcher in January, a campus-wide committee is recommending changes be made to UCLA laboratory safety protocol.
Sheharbano Sangji died on Jan. 16 after sustaining second- and third-degree burns to more than 43 percent of her body when a volatile chemical compound she was working with spilled on her and ignited. She was not wearing a laboratory coat.
After Sangji’s death, Chancellor Gene Block commissioned a committee, comprised of 20 faculty members from research fields across campus, to evaluate the safety of university laboratories.
Six months into its investigation, the committee has released a 91-page report in which it recommends expanding employee training and outreach, increasing laboratory oversight, and improving laboratory design and record-keeping.
In a statement released July 17, Block called the report a crucial step forward in improving the university’s laboratory safety standards.
“As a lab scientist, and as a parent, I was deeply affected by the tragic death of Sheri Sangji, and I will be carefully considering the details of this report,” he said in the statement.
A number of changes to laboratory safety protocol have already been made since the beginning of the year, according to a university statement.
Laboratories using hazardous materials are now required to quantify them, and all researchers are being educated in the use of protective equipment.
UCLA laboratory practices were found to be in violation of several state regulations after Sangji’s death. Laboratory safety protocol has since been re-evaluated and approved by state officials.
Yet according to the report, more needs to be done.
“As an institution of higher learning, it is essential that we teach students by example and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to ensuring the health and safety of all laboratory personnel,” the report stated.
A number of laboratory directors said they had not yet read or begun to read the report, and therefore could not comment on it.