UCLA

The Plastic Syringe and the Pyrophoric: A 23-Year-Old's Death in a UCLA Chemistry Lab Reshaped Academic Lab Safety

Monday, December 29, 2008CAfireemergency notificationmedium confidence

Confirmed Threat

On December 29, 2008, 23-year-old research assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji was transferring tert-butyllithium, a pyrophoric reagent that ignites on contact with air, using a plastic syringe in Patrick Harran's lab in UCLA's Molecular Sciences Building. The syringe came apart, the chemical sprayed onto her synthetic sweater, and she was engulfed in flames. She was not wearing a lab coat. She died of her burns at the Grossman Burn Center 18 days later.

Alerts: 3
Response: 3 min
Killed: 1
Injured: 0

Institution

University of California, Los Angeles

Public R1 · CA

~40,000 studentsBruinAlert

Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTPhoneDec 29, 2008, 10:57 PM PST

Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from UCLA Police dispatch logs reproduced in C&EN and the Sangji case Wikipedia article197 chars

Unknown type chemical fire reported in a chemistry laboratory in the Molecular Sciences Building. Fire engine, deputy fire marshal, and medical personnel responding. Female adult victim with burns.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

UCLA Police dispatch recorded the 911 call at 2:54 PM PST and dispatched emergency crews at 2:57 PM PST on December 29, 2008

This was an internal dispatch transmission, not a public BruinAlert — UCLA's mass-notification system was not activated for the incident because the fire was contained to a single fume hood

Deputy Fire Marshal Christopher Lutton, a fire engine, and EMS arrived at the Molecular Sciences Building at 3:01 PM PST

The decision not to send a campuswide BruinAlert was later criticized in academic safety reviews, as the fatal nature of the burns was not yet known when the response began

UPDATEPhoneDec 29, 2008, 11:06 PM PST+9 min

Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Los Angeles Times reconstruction of the incident timeline based on UCLA Police and UCLA Fire Department records156 chars

Fire out on arrival. Victim placed under safety shower for decontamination. Transporting to UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center for treatment of severe burns.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Dispatch recorded at 3:06 PM PST on December 29, 2008 that the fire was out upon arrival of the deputy fire marshal

Sangji had been moved to a rolling chair and placed under a safety shower by colleagues before EMS arrived

She was transferred to the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks the same evening, where she remained until her death on January 16, 2009

No campus advisory was issued — winter break was in progress and the Molecular Sciences Building remained operational the next morning

FOLLOW-UPEmailJanuary 16, 2009, after Sangji's death

Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from C&EN reporting on UCLA's internal communications following Sangji's death361 chars

It is with great sadness that I share news of the death of Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji, a 23-year-old research assistant in our Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, who passed away today from injuries sustained in a December 29 laboratory fire. The university is fully cooperating with state and federal investigators. A memorial gathering will be announced.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

UCLA did not issue a public BruinAlert about the lab fire at any point — communications were limited to department-internal email and a press statement

C&EN later reported that UCLA safety inspectors had identified more than a dozen deficiencies in the Harran lab two months earlier, including the failure of researchers to wear lab coats, with corrective action due December 5

The lack of a campus advisory contrasted sharply with the 2010 Texas Tech NHP explosion the following year, after which campus and federal investigators emphasized transparent incident reporting

Context

Background

On the afternoon of December 29, 2008, research assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji, a 23-year-old graduate of Pomona College who had started in organic chemistry professor Patrick Harran's lab on October 13, 2008, was performing a scaled-up transfer of tert-butyllithium (t-BuLi) — a pyrophoric reagent that ignites on contact with air — from a Sure/Seal bottle into a reaction flask using a 60 mL plastic syringe. The syringe plunger came apart, the t-BuLi sprayed onto her synthetic sweater, and her clothing caught fire. She was not wearing a lab coat. Colleagues smothered the flames and placed her under a safety shower, and UCLA Fire Department personnel arrived at 3:01 PM PST, finding the fire already out. Sangji was transferred to the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, where she died on January 16, 2009 from second- and third-degree burns covering 40% of her body. Cal/OSHA fined UCLA $31,875 in May 2009 for three violations, including failure to provide proper PPE and failure to train. In December 2011, the Los Angeles County District Attorney filed four felony charges against Harran and the Regents of the University of California — the first criminal prosecution arising from an academic lab accident. UCLA settled in July 2012. Harran reached a deferred-prosecution agreement in June 2014 requiring 800 hours of community service and a $10,000 donation to the Grossman Burn Center. The case spawned the UC Center for Laboratory Safety, mandatory lab-coat requirements across the UC system, and a national reckoning over the lack of safety culture in academic research labs that continues today.

Analysis

Key Findings

UCLA did not issue any campuswide BruinAlert for the fatal lab fire — communication was limited to internal department channels, foreshadowing later debates over Clery Act applicability to lab incidents

UCLA safety inspectors had identified more than a dozen deficiencies in the Harran lab two months before the fire, including the failure of personnel to wear lab coats; corrective action due December 5, 2008 was not taken

The Sangji case became the first criminal prosecution of an academic lab accident in the United States, leading to nationwide reform of university lab safety programs and the founding of the UC Center for Laboratory Safety

Outcome

Sangji died on January 16, 2009. Cal/OSHA fined UCLA $31,875 for safety violations. In 2012 the Los Angeles District Attorney filed four felony charges against Professor Patrick Harran and UCLA — the first criminal prosecution arising from an academic lab accident. UCLA settled in 2012; Harran reached a deferred-prosecution agreement in 2014 requiring 800 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine to the Grossman Burn Center. The case triggered nationwide reforms in academic lab safety, including the founding of the UC Center for Laboratory Safety.

Provenance

Sources

Source
Sheri Sangji case (Wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org
News
A young lab worker, a professor and a deadly accident (Los Angeles Times)
riskmanagement.nd.edu
Source
10 years after Sheri Sangji's death, are academic labs any safer? (C&EN)
cen.acs.org
Source
California Inspectors Fine UCLA Lab in Fatal Fire (Science)
science.org
Source
Learning From UCLA (C&EN)
cen.acs.org
Source
UCLA chemist avoids prison time for lethal lab accident (Chemistry World)
chemistryworld.com
Source
Death in the Lab (Discover Magazine)
discovermagazine.com
Source
UCLA Center for Laboratory Safety
newsroom.ucla.edu

Alert Sequence

Background

Key Findings

Sources

Related Cases