British universities are tightening up their safety procedures after
a student was mutilated during an explosion in the organic chemistry laboratory
at King鈥檚 College, London, last month.
The third-year undergraduate was carrying out a reaction with sodium
azide and cyanogen bromide designed to make a nitrene when there was an
explosion. The student lost his thumb and part of the index finger on his
left hand in the explosion, which happened on 23 February. The London Fire
Brigade closed the Strand, one of the capital鈥檚 busiest thoroughfares, while
it dealt with the aftermath. The government鈥檚 safety watchdog, the Health
and Safety Executive was called in to investigate the incident. One theory
is that the explosion was caused by an unstable intermediate product, cyanogen
azide.
As part of the safety procedure at King鈥檚 College, students are supposed
to sign a form which spells out the objective of the experiment and the
dangers of chemicals involved. This form is part of the HSE鈥檚 Control of
Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) regulations which govern the use
of dangerous substances throughout Britain. New 女生小视频 understands that
the student had not signed a form before starting the experiment. A spokeswoman
for King鈥檚 College says: 鈥楿nder the circumstances we don鈥檛 feel it appropriate
to say anything at this time.鈥�
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Bob Hellings of the University Safety Association says that many universities
require postgraduates to sign a form as part of the routine risk assessment
carried out under the COSHH regulations for every experiment. Signing this
COSHH form is rarely required for undergraduates, however, who are usually
supervised more closely. But simply signing the form does not guarantee
an understanding of the risks, and the forms may 鈥榥ot be worth the paper
they鈥檙e written on鈥�, says Hellings.
Other London colleges appear to be taking the incident very seriously.
Alf Leyton, the safety officer at University College London, says that although
there has been no formal tightening up of procedures following the explosion,
he rang other safety officials at the college to ensure that 鈥榩eople see
they鈥檙e taking risk assessment seriously鈥�. Ian Gillett, who worked for the
HSE before becoming safety director at Imperial College, says that the college
is busy reinforcing the safety message following the King鈥檚 explosion.
He says it is important for the more advanced students to carry out
their own risk assessment. He argues that this is the only way they will
understand the dangers of the chemicals they are using, and of any intermediate
chemicals produced during the experiment.
