Physics student dies in lab accident

[Geezer]

You have to feel sorry for those she left behind, but it appears from the article this is the age-old problem: "Safety rules and regulations only apply to other people, I know better." Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Very true. This young lady even helped write a safety manual. She took a lab training class and knew she had to pull her hair back before working with the machines. She knew better.

That said, I feel horrible for her family. Plus, it's clearly a loss for the greater physics community, as women in physics are somewhat rare (and she apparently had obvious talent).

My thoughts go out to her family and friends...

 

[Geezer]

For example, here's another university accident.
In 2008, a http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/lab-assistant-dies-of-injuries-78543.aspx" was working with t-butyl lithium in the lab. She accidentally caught herself on fire and it engulfed her clothes. She had 3rd degree burns on 40% of her body and died within two weeks. With stricter precautions, could this tragedy been averted?

I remember this incident, vividly. I was actually on campus at UCLA at the time. There were ambulances and fire trucks crowded around the building. Until we heard otherwise, we thought a bomb had gone off.

UCLA has instituted more safety measures since this unfortunate incident.

 

[Studiot]

For example, here's another university accident.
In 2008, a 23 year old UCLA researcher was working with t-butyl lithium in the lab. She accidentally caught herself on fire and it engulfed her clothes. She had 3rd degree burns on 40% of her body and died within two weeks. With stricter precautions, could this tragedy been averted?

Yes that happened to me in 1968 at Loughborough when I leaned over a bunsen burner in the lab. Luckily I didn't suffer any permanent harm.

My thoughts go out to the victim.

 

[Topher925]

I work in my uni's machine shop frequently and the #2 safety rule is; If our machinist doesn't trust you using the machines, you're not using them unsupervised. There's only a handful of us allowed to use the mills and lathes unsupervised, and none of us took any "machining" classes.

My school offers a machining class but taking a one semester class doesn't make you competent. To understand, predict, and avoid all the possible hazards you just have to have "it". That is, some kind of technical understanding of fabrication and machines which IMO 99% of engineering and science majors just don't have. Its not something you can get from a class, its something you get from experience.

I have the feeling this girl fell in the 99% and was possibly doing something she wasn't suppose to. Making sure you have no loose clothing, hair, jewelry, etc is one of the first things you do when you walk into the machine shop, especially when working with a lathe.

 

[AtomicJoe]

Ugh. That's awful.



I would have thought that death would have been from massive head trauma or from fractured neck, but cause of death was ruled as "asphyxiation due to neck compression" which leads me to believe she was pinned to the machine and suffocated. I guess she was pinned in such as way as to be unable to reach the emergency shut off. Or she was knocked unconscious.

Also suggests she was working alone, another no no.

 

[AtomicJoe]

There is a good case for not letting people with long hair in rooms with such equipment.
If you want to operate a lathe get it cut. End of story.
Also working alone is another no no, so dangerous, one mistake, one moment of forget fullness, one hair band snapping and that's it.

Also I think lathes should have perspex covers on such that they will not operate if it is not in place. And maybe also a 'dead man handle' such that if you release the machine stops, however even then they have considerable momentum.

 

[Geezer]

There is a good case for not letting people with long hair in rooms with such equipment.
If you want to operate a lathe get it cut. End of story.
Also working alone is another no no, so dangerous, one mistake, one moment of forget fullness, one hair band snapping and that's it.

I don't think long hair is the culprit; it's not tying it back or putting it up that's to blame. Same thing with baggy clothing: anything loose or hanging is dangerous in a machine room.

 

[KingNothing]

I don't think long hair is the culprit; it's not tying it back or putting it up that's to blame.

I think that's really just spinning it, though. The bottom line is that long hair + not tying back = death. They are both part of it. Its just that enforcing one rule involves more gender issues.

 

[Proton Soup]

i wouldn't even tie it back because it's still able to fall over your shoulder if you turn the wrong way. it needs to be contained in some way.

 

[Geezer]

i wouldn't even tie it back because it's still able to fall over your shoulder if you turn the wrong way. it needs to be contained in some way.

You can tie your hair back into a bun. It will sit on your head then. Nothing dangling, nothing to fall over your shoulder. At least, that's what I do.

 

[Geezer]

I think that's really just spinning it, though. The bottom line is that long hair + not tying back = death. They are both part of it. Its just that enforcing one rule involves more gender issues.

Yes, I agree about the gender issues. But excluding long hair could also come with some religious issues, too. An orthodox Jewish man may not cut his beard, and some beards can be quite long, too. And a long beard can't be readily pulled back into a bun like a person's long hair, for example. And some religious sects don't allow women to cut their hair. And, of course, what do you do about the woman who wears a headscarf or the guy with dreadlocks (dreadlocks serving a religious purpose, as sometimes they do)?

So, even if you disallowed long hair on the basis of safety--enforcing the rule across the board for both genders--you'd still have to deal with the folks who require an exclusion for religious reasons.