Hello everyone,

On June 17, an explosion in a chemistry lab at the University of Minnesota injured graduate student who was synthesizing trimethylsilyl azide. The explosion resulted in injuries and burns to his arm, side and injuries to his eardrum. For more details about this incident, please follow the link below.

http://cenblog.org/the-safety-zone/2014/07/more-details-on-the-university-of-minnesota-explosion-and-response/

The American Chemical Society’s Committee on Chemical Safety developed in 2013 a document with comprehensive guidelines on identifying and evaluating hazards in research laboratories. Please follow the link below to access this document and use these guidelines when developing SOPs or hazard assessments for new or modified experiments.

http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/identifying-and-evaluating-hazards-in-research-laboratories-draft.pdf

Thank you for your commitment to safety!

Sincerely,

Gabriela

On behalf of the ChE safety Committee

________

Gabriela Nagy, PhD

Industrial Education Director

ChE Safety Committee Chair

School of Chemical Engineering

Room FRNY G051

Purdue University

Tel: (765)-496-1710

E-mail: nagyg@purdue.edu