An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Chip Albright |

The Chemical Safety Board published a report that looks at serious lab accidents between 2001 and 2018. (report can be downloaded here)

They report 262 serious accidents with 490 serious injuries and 10 deaths.  None of us want to be a part of that statistic.
 

In the above graphic, they take the death of Sheri Sangji, a UCLA graduate student who suffered major burns while working at a fume hood, and compare the number of incidents before and after her death to see if what we learned has made labs safer.
 

Unfortunately, lab incidents didn’t decline after Sangji’s death.  But more shocking is that the number of accidents in an educational setting is 81% of the total. But what does this tell us? We can deduce from the findings that the high number of educational incidents is a result of lack of training for students.

When beta testing Tri-Color, we were given access to several Colleges and Universities. When we were asked if the institution could buy a unit.  We responded it was still under development, then asked why they would want a Tri-Color unit for themselves. Their responses were all very similar to the one below.

I have been working with hoods for 20 plus years and I have never seen what you just showed me. It is very educational. I want to make it a curriculum item. Each semester we want to take the first hour of lab and show the students how a fume hood works and how their actions impact the hood’s performance.


To make students safer, we have to expose them to the risks and hazards, and how to mitigate them.

No one wants to see students injured or killed, but without effective training, accidents/incidents will continue.  Tri-Color isn’t just about testing (Dynamic Containment Testing),  it is a highly visible way to demonstrate performance and expose hazards, which makes it an effective tool for education and training.

To check Tri-Color out, visit our website at:  https://www.tricolorlasertesting.com

Let us help you make your lab safer one fume hood at a time.