The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is an independent federal agency with the mission of ensuring the safety of workers and the public by preventing or minimizing the effects of chemical incidents. The CSB has gathered preliminary data on over 120 laboratory incidents in recent history. The 2008 laboratory fire that resulted in the death of a staff research associate at UCLA highlighted the potential dangers that many chemical laboratory researchers face. When, in 2010, an explosion occurred at Texas Tech University (TTU), seriously injuring a graduate student, the CSB Board deployed an investigation team to the university to examine the causes of the incident. Dr. Mulcahy will report on the CSB's key findings that resulted from the TTU investigation. When the CSB investigates an incident, it not only examines the immediate events leading up to the incident, but it also looks beyond those events to both the larger organization or company involved, as well as the technical community. Dr. Mulcahy will discuss this investigative methodology and the CSB's findings on the lack of consensus standards and community-recognized good practice related to laboratory research.

Investigation of a laboratory explosion

244th National Meeting (2012)

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