Comments on: Did Sheri Sangji Die in Vain?

By: David Collum

David Collum — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:42:30 +0000

If it’s any consolation, I think changes have been (and are being) made because of this accident. In the very least, it has elevated lab coats to the status of safety goggles (and rightfully so). I have read all comments on the blogs about this particular case to try to understand different perspectives. Keep chatting, and I’ll keep reading.

By: Shaking off the Jet Lag « Chemical Space

Shaking off the Jet Lag « Chemical Space — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:38:28 +0000

[...] have written over my absence would have been about the Sheri Sangji case, but some sterling work by ChemBark, ChemJobber and, especially, Jyllian Kemsley (surely that should be Chemsley?) covered all bases [...]

By: jb

jb — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 20:26:32 +0000

Sadly, I have to agree that nothing changed after what had happened. We had a safety meeting to discuss the repercussions of that incident as there are new safety guidelines that will be coming. Not being a research prof, I mainly listened to the discussion. The overall concern was how to meet the documentation requirements, and to say everybody did not want to do so is not an exaggeration. Words like “tedious”, “no time”, “how do you expect us to do this?” were what I heard. No mention of how to avoid similar type of incidents.

By: Chemjobber

Chemjobber — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:58:43 +0000

If by that you mean “YouTube”, then yes, more or less.

By: Curious Wavefunction

Curious Wavefunction — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:54:32 +0000

Is there a a series of YouTube videos demonstrating all these important safety techniques? If not, wouldn’t it make sense to have them somewhere online at a single location?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 08:46:31 +0000

I have had some incidences with cannula transfers when the springy cannula needle has sprung out of one septum and acted like a flame thrower.

They are very useful for Grignards (where needle blockages are a pain in the butt), though I am less convinced for *small scale* (one syringe’s worth, say <25-50 ml) of RLi if they are done carefully – i.e. bottle properly clamped with crown cap lid inches away from "receiving" septum inlet.

By: Chemjobber

Chemjobber — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:15:30 +0000

Many disposable plastic syringes have a little ridge/narrowing that makes it somewhat difficult for the plunger to come out. You can definitely feel the resistance at that point; once you get past that ridge, though, the plunger is much less tightly held.

I agree that cannula transfer (and doing it safely) is probably the best method. It’s probably a lot more difficult to teach, though.

By: Special Guest Lecturer

Special Guest Lecturer — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:10:00 +0000

or don’t use a syringe at all – cannula transfer.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 10:59:08 +0000

Can you buy disposable plastic syringes which have “devices” which prevent the plunger being pulled all teh way out?

Else intuition should say for such reagents it is good to use a syringe way bigger than the volume of solution needed, and in such way the plunger does not get to that risky “end zone” near maximum capacity.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:59:51 +0000

I work at a government research lab, where the safety culture is much closer to industry practices. Not long after Sheri’s death, we interviewed an academic department chair for a rather senior management position in our institution. I asked the candidate how the recent events including Sheri’s death and the Texas Tech fire had impacted him personally, and what if any changes he had initiated in his department as a result. While I can’t recall his exact words, his reply was somewhere in the vicinity of “There but for the grace of God…” It seems not to have occurred to him that a Department Chair might have any responsbility for safety leadership.