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Previous by Date: Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] University of Hawaii lab explosion/Credibility of Investigation Date: Sunday, July 10, 2016 12:08:23 AM Author: Ken_kretchman <kwkretch**At_Symbol_Here**NCSU.EDU>

Next by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (20 articles) Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2016 07:40:55 -0400 Author: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety"

My 2 cents -

I‰??ve been involved in a number of investigations through the years and one thing is always true. There will always be Monday morning quarterbacking. Everyone wants to second guess the team makeup and the conclusions. But as a leader in the organization, you put together the team you think has the balance you need given the organization involved and you go with it. As a team member, you do the best you can to use a methodology you think with resonate with the particular audience and you go with it. I scanned through the investigation report volumes when they were released with the eye of someone who has been involved in a number of accident investigations over years, both in staffing teams and as an investigator and I personally think they struck the best balance possible given the situation. If they had staffed the team with 5 experts in gas reactions/explosions, we would be seeing a report focused just on that. If they chose a team with 5 leads in safety culture, we woul!
d have a report reflecting primarily on that. They chose a team that had a balance of leads in gas reactions/explosions, academia, safety culture and probably more important than all of those‰?|leading an organization through a tragedy. When I read the content, the fundamental nature of some of the findings tells me frankly that they probably could have written reams of findings, but they chose to use the discretion of people who know what it‰??s like to go through something like this and how important it is to give the organization something they can latch on to to make progress without hammering every single point that they could have. All in all - hats off to you all!

Kim Jeskie

> On Jul 9, 2016, at 9:54 AM, Eugene Ngai wrote:
>
> I take great exception to your comments. I was the outsider that was retained to assist in this investigation. I found the 3 UCCLS investigators to be very professional and knowledgeable. Our reports are extensive and I can tell you that a lot of my personal time has gone into the review of what may have happened. What exactly are you protesting? Have you read the reports? I have investigated some fairly significant incidents over the last 20 years, 160 lb H2Se release, 65 lbs AsH3 release, all with multiple injuries
>
> Eugene Ngai
> Chemically Speaking LLC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**med.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Roger McClellan
> Sent: Friday, July 8, 2016 12:57 PM
> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
> Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] University of Hawaii lab explosion/Credibility of Investigation
>
> To all:
> The credibility of any investigation is rooted in the experience AND credentials of the personnel conducting the investigation. The last time I checked the web site of the University of California Center for Laboratory Safety (UCCLS) I could find NO evidence of the Center having personnel with extensive experience or specific credentials in the safety field. Indeed, one individual listed as staff appeared to have recently arrived at her position by moving through a series of post doctoral appointments at UCLA. All to often safety positions in Universities appear to have been filled in that manner rather than by external searches for experienced and credentialed professionals.
> Perhaps, some time in the future the University of California Center for Laboratory Safety will have experienced employees with safety credentials and gained a track record through experience that will warrant its being recognized first locally, then regionally, then nationally and finally internationally has an authoritative organization for conducting safety reviews.
> Does the Report prepared by UCCLS on the Hawaii Accident provide biographies on the personnel conducting the investigation? Does it provide a summary of the experience of the personnel or UCCLS in conducting similar investigations? Absent these details the UCCLS Report does not deserve much credibility.
> In my opinion, the chemistry community should collectively set higher standards then appear to be manifest in this case. I will admit the sad past experiences of the UCLA accident are still fresh in my mind. I think UCLA needs a decade of solid local experience in the safety arena before marketing its services as an authoritative body investigating accidents at other institutions.
> I recognize that UCCLS hired an outside firm to conduct key studies as part of the investigation, that action is to be applauded. However, that is only part of an investigation.
> I think the fact that the University of Hawaii engaged the UCCLS to conduct the investigation raises serious questions about leadership in chemical safety at the University of Hawaii.
> I think the chemistry community and the scientific community at large should expect more when it comes to investigating serious accidents, what are your views? Is this the kind of safety culture you endorse?
> Roger O. McClellan
>
> Roger O. McClellan, DVM, MMS, DSc(Honorary)
> Diplomate- ABT and ABVT; Fellow - ATS, AAAR, HPS, SRA, and AAAS Member - National Academy of Medicine Advisor - Toxicology and Human Health Risk Analysis.
> Albuquerque, NM
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Fri, 7/8/16, Ralph Stuart wrote:
>
> Subject: [DCHAS-L] University of Hawaii lab explosion likely originated in electrostatic discharge
> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
> Date: Friday, July 8, 2016, 7:13 AM
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__cen.acs.org_articles_94_i28_University-2DHawaii-2Dlab-2Dexplosion-2Dlikely.html&d=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=mhWpf2OCWB3GPxn7cdPgfqdKDWDr4GbT2NH-gLA5meU&s=LoTO1jwdFfzRrPiBp9tRfFwbDrS5AVTFYo9L-jjPjQc&e=
>
> University of Hawaii lab explosion likely originated in electrostatic discharge
>
> The root cause was failure to recognize and control the hazards of explosive gas mixture, investigation report says
>
> By Jyllian Kemsley
>
> The blast caused a postdoc to lose an arm and about $800,000 in lab damage.
>
> An electrostatic discharge between postdoctoral researcher Thea Ekins-Coward and a gas storage tank containing hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide likely caused an explosion at the University of Hawaii, M€?noa, in which Ekins-Coward lost one of her arms, according to a report by the University of California Center for Laboratory Safety (UCCLS).
>
> UH hired UCCLS to conduct an independent investigation of the March 16 accident and released the report on July 1.
> Another investigation by the Honolulu Fire Department, released in April, concluded that the cause was a spark from the pressure gauge. UCCLS dug deeper than the fire department and contracted with an outside laboratory to recreate and test the experimental setup. Those tests ruled out all causes other than a static discharge.
>
> Going beyond the immediate cause of the explosion, however, ‰??the overall underlying cause of the accident was failure to recognize and control the hazards of an explosive gas mixture of hydrogen and oxygen,‰?? the UCCLS report says.
>
> ‰??The message to other researchers is that they need to do a better job of educating themselves about the hazards of the materials they‰??re working with‰?? and what could go wrong, says Craig A. Merlic, UCCLS executive director and a chemistry professor at UCLA. And campus safety personnel ‰??need to have conversations with researchers and guide them to the resources that are available‰?? to help conduct experiments safely, he adds.
>
> In the case of the UH explosion, for example, the lab passed a safety inspection in January in part by properly storing
> H2 and O2 cylinders 6 meters apart. But no one questioned storing a mixture of the gases in a 49-L steel tank designed for compressed air and not electrically grounded, the UCCLS report says. When the tank exploded, it contained 55% H2, 38% O2, and 7% CO2 at a pressure of 8 atm. UCCLS estimated the energy of the detonation to be equivalent to 70.5 g of TNT.
>
> Ekins-Coward was working for the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute under researcher Jian Yu. The gas mixture was used to feed bacteria to produce biofuels and bioplastics. Yu‰??s lab is still closed, and he and the institute have not yet determined how experiments will be set up going forward, says institute director Richard E. Rocheleau.
>
> The explosion cost about $716,000 in infrastructure damage and $60,000 to $100,000 in equipment losses, and UCCLS was paid $88,000, says UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.
>
> UH placed no restrictions on the UCCLS team during its investigation, Merlic says. The Hawaii Occupational Safety & Health Division is also examining the incident.

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