School Labs Go Under Microscope
February 2, 2010
Mary Beth Mulcahy is one of two Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) investigators who this month will examine a chemistry department laboratory accident at Texas Tech University. It is the first investigation the safety board has ever done of a school lab accident, and safety experts tell C&EN it is long overdue.
The Jan. 7 accident at the Lubbock, Texas, campus put a 29-year-old student into critical condition at a hospital burn unit, where he remains. Preston Brown’s research was part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract to study explosives.