WIKIMEDIA, CHRIS RADCLIFFIn 2009, tragedy struck the University of California, Los Angeles, lab of chemist Patrick Harran when one of his staff scientists died in a fiery accident. Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji was pipetting a dangerous substance called tert-butyllithium, which combusts spontaneously in air, when the plunger came out of the syringe barrel, setting the chemical alight, burning Sangji’s clothes, and causing third-degree burns to her body. After spending 18 days in the hospital, the 23-year-old—who at the time of the accident was not wearing a flame-retardant lab coat—died from her injuries. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Harran and the regents of the UC system with felony counts of “willful violation of an occupational health and safety standard causing the death of an employee” in 2011. It was the first time criminal charges were meted out in the case of an academic laboratory accident.
It has now come to light that the University of California (UC) spent nearly $4.5 million on legal fees to settle its case with the district attorney in 2012 and for Harran to reach an agreement in June of this year, according to records released by the UC Office of the President at the request of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). In exchange for the charges against it being dropped, the University of California agreed to establish a law scholarship in Sangji’s name, to accept responsibility for the lab conditions that led to her death, and to follow a specified lab safety program for five years. Harran also agreed to accept responsibility for Sangji’s death, in addition to paying $10,000 to the burn center that ...
