<p>Yale</a> student killed in chemistry lab accident - Yahoo! News</p>
<p>I don't have any words to express the loss. My heart goes out to the family. Universities need to take more precautions with labs.</p>
<p>The article I read says she was killed by a piece of machinery. The New Haven Newspaper said, “Her hair got caught in a lathe, a piece of machinery that spins very quickly, and it pulled her in, sources said.”</p>
<p>In this situation I am not so sure you can lay the blame at the feet of the University. The student had a duty to herself to take the steps (learned by all students with authorization to be in that lab) to keep herself safe, ie, putting hair in a bun to keep it out of harms way. In no way am I “blaming” the student, because certainly she paid the ultimate price, but saying Universities need to take precautions makes it seem as if Yale failed this student, when, if it went down as reported, it was just a horrible accident.</p>
<p>Regardless, a horrible tragedy for this student, her peers, educators and especially family and parents. :(</p>
<p>This is truly sad. I feel for her family.</p>
<p>I agree. </p>
<p>Way back when I was working in a high energy physics lab doing paid grunt work, when a grad student asked me to turn a pot on the back of a machine. He hadn’t realized that it was energized, and I got a shock that sent me flying across the room on my office chair, burn marks on my hand, and hair that stood up on end. I wasn’t even sent for medical evaluation afterwards, nor did I get paid because I went home early. The Microbio lab I worked in also had no particular training even though there were solvents and other chemicals in use along with open flames, a huge autoclave, and of course we were growing various microbes. I was never injured there, but still.</p>
<p>If a student has not been taught to have hair pulled back working around machinery, how would she know? Most kids these days have no shop experience anyway.</p>
<p>How tragic, how sad, my heart and prayers go out to her family and friends.</p>
<p>** If a student has not been taught to have hair pulled back working around machinery, how would she know? Most kids these days have no shop experience anyway. **</p>
<p>Because the article states: " According to the chemistry department’s website, access to the room where people “construct or modify research instrumentation” is “strictly limited to those who have completed the shop course,” the Daily News reported."</p>
<p>So if she was in there, she should have had this training. I would think based on our tour of Yale, she would have to swipe her ID to enter, and that “clearance” would not be given without this course being satisfied.</p>
<p>And I would not classify this student as “most kids.” She was a high achieving Ivy League student completing her education. A tragedy of many facets.</p>
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<p>If a piece of machinary in this age can’t be made hair secure then I do blame University to not put in red block letter a warning that long hair students need to be extra careful.</p>
<p>I certainly will expect more from an institute as reputed as Yale. It is really sad to loose a student at the leading university to a lab accident. Are we living in 1960’s or in an under developed country?</p>
<p>If today this has happened at Toyota’s factory, would you say the same thing? There would be 100’s of law suite proping up in all cities with Toyota’s factories with all the flaws with all the machinaries.</p>
<p>We need to use same sticks for our leading educational institutes too.</p>
<p>I used to work in a bank department that had machinery that could grab hair. We were well warned to keep our hair tied back when using it.</p>
<p>So incredibly sad:</p>
<p>[Yale</a> student killed in chemistry lab accident - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_yale_student_dies]Yale”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_yale_student_dies)</p>
<p>It sounds that just like the death at UCLA, this tragedy could have been prevented with proper safety training. Academic labs do not emphasize safety training, and many professors and grad students have a very lax attitude towards safety. It drives me nuts when I see photos on college websites showing students performing chemistry or bio experiments without wearing proper protective gear. I’m done ranting. My heart goes out to Michele’s friends and family.</p>
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<p>My D is in HS. Her school is not strict or regimental by any means. In her chemistry lab , however, kids are drilled to put their hair up in a bun, to dress properly - no open shoes, no shorts, long sleeve shirts, etc. It’s not just machinery that catches hair. Long hair could also catch fire from a bunsen burner, or knock over chemicals, view can be blocked bumping into someone who’s carry dangerous chemicals. I would think College seniors certainly knew the rules.</p>
<p>Needlessly to say, it is a horrific accident.</p>
<p>God, how awful. Her hair was pulled into a piece of machinery? Aren’t people told not to wear their hair down if they’re anywhere near a machine that could do that?</p>
<p>sylvan8798: Are you saying that the bank didn’t have a warning posted near the machine that it could grabs hair?</p>
<p>I think if a tragedy has to happen in that bank, the law will side with the victim because even if the user of the machinary have been trained the obivious warning need to be posted.</p>
<p>I think if there was no warning on the machine or next to the machine with this affect then institute should be blamed for unable to take full measure to avoid this horrible accident.</p>
<p>There are lots of thing on people mind, and all dangerous situation need RED letter warnings. Provided training itself is not sufficient.</p>
<p>I just can’t believe parent coming in support of the institute here.</p>
<p>We go to large extent to force cigrates manufacturers to post clear visible warnings on the packs
“Cigrate smoking is injurious to health.”</p>
<p>Why don’t we leave it on the users because we train everyone sicne childhood that smoking is injurious to health.</p>
<p>Food for thought…</p>
<p>It looks like there is another thread about this tragedy in the Parents’ section started by POIH. If a moderator is reading this, please merge, edit or delete my post.</p>
<p>From the discussion on that thread, it sounds that there were some training procedures in place. The big question is whether the training was done properly, and whether she was supervised by someone or working alone (happens all the time in academic setting, not allowed in the biotech labs where I worked).</p>
<p>Before all the facts are known, there is no need to start pointing fingers, invoking underdeveloped countries or implying the school should be “held responsible,” which is code word for lawsuit. </p>
<p>Because what appears to have happened here is that a talented, well-trained young scientist experienced a momentary lapse in good judgment and died in a freak accident. </p>
<p>Yes, it’s a tragedy. And it might well have occurred at any shop or laboratory anywhere. And you can be sure as result Yale will tighten its safety training.</p>
<p>If today this has happened at Toyota’s factory, would you say the same thing? There would be 100’s of law suite proping up in all cities with Toyota’s factories with all the flaws with all the machinaries.</p>
<p>Yes I would say the same thing. If a machine at Toyota posed a risk to a worker with long hair and the directive was to put the hair back to prevent injury and the worker failed to do that, then fault lies with the worker. Now you can argue the worker should not be let on the line without the hair pulled back and not having that check and balance could signal a red flag. But some machinery by nature of what it is can’t be made to do its task if it has barriers, etc. There is a small little phrase in our language called “personal responsibility”. Do you sue fireplace manufactures if you stick your hand in your fireplace and get burned? Of course not. And mandating that said manufacture put controls in place to limit burns, (like a fireplace surrounding by a barrier) would simply defeat the purpose of said fireplace in the first place. Operators have to take the proper steps to protect themselves. Again personal responsibility.</p>
<p>IF the accident happened as reported then was simply a freak accident.</p>
<p>I’m sure there was some training done in the beginning. However, in my experience, many academic labs have very lax attitude towards safety issues, and after the initial training safety rules are not followed religiously (and at times people who follow them are ridiculed). Remember the tragedy at UCLA?[UCLA</a> lab assistant dies](<a href=“http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/January/23010903.asp]UCLA”>http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/January/23010903.asp) and some folow up: <a href=“http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2010/January/29011003.asp[/url]”>http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2010/January/29011003.asp</a></p>
<p>When we hire a new grad, we sometimes have to drill simple safety rules into their heads (protective eyewear on all the time, no coffee mugs in the lab, etc.). Was she working alone? In the non-academic labs where I worked, this was a big no-no.</p>
<p>** I just can’t believe parent coming in support of the institute here.[/]</p>
<p>Not saying I support the institution. I am saying until all the facts are known it is irresponsible to say ** Universities need to take more precautions with labs. ** when you have no earthly idea what the circumstances around this accident are. You can’t jump across the river and scream “blame the University” when really who knows what exactly happened. It should be common knowledge to those who understand and work with lathes that your hairs should be pulled back, lanyards, etc should be out of the way…</p>
<p>Common sense.</p>
<p>@ParentOfIvyHope - Signs like that are nearly useless. People working in the lab regularly will become conditioned to not see the signs, which is the reason for training to develop ingrained habits. People just visiting the lab need to be supervised by a responsible employee. Anybody who actually worked in a lab or industrial environment knows that.</p>
<p>You made the point yourself; nobody pays attention to those cigarette warning labels.</p>
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<p>Wow! What an anology? So the Yale Student (must be in 90%tile) is now dumb enough to put her hair in the machines…</p>
<p>If my fireplace can grab my hand if my hand is near it and manufacturer has not taken a safety measure to put off the fire or stop the machine in time. Then certainly I’ll blame the maufacturere and will win the case.</p>
<p>It’s negligance on the part of institue and we should not deny and hold the institute responsible for it.</p>
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<p>This is not a case of lapse in judgement. This is sheer case of not taking enough precautions on the part of the machine manufacturer and on part of the institutes deploying the machines.</p>
<p>There should be a safe back mechanism where the machine should have stopped and a clear RED letter warning to the effect should have been posted near the machine by the institute.</p>
<p>“is a small little phrase in our language called “personal responsibility”. Do you sue fireplace manufactures if you stick your hand in your fireplace and get burned?”</p>
<p>“Personal responsibility” is not applicable in this case. If it will be found that the department had a lax attitude towards safety despite having training, manuals etc. in place, I expect that there will be some fallout for the department (just like in the UCLA case).</p>