The Sheri Sangji case is the first criminal case resulting from an academic laboratory accident. The case arose from a fatal accident that occurred in the chemistry laboratory of

Patrick Harran Patrick Harran (born 13 July 1969) is an American organic chemist who has held the D. J. & J. M. Cram Chair in Organic Chemistry, an endowed chair at the University of California, Los Angeles, since 2008. Prior to taking this position he was a pr ...

at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

(UCLA). Research assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji suffered severe burns from a fire that occurred on December 29, 2008 when a plastic syringe she was using to transfer the

pyrophoric A substance is pyrophoric (from grc-gre, πυροφόρος, , 'fire-bearing') if it ignites spontaneously in air at or below (for gases) or within 5 minutes after coming into contact with air (for liquids and solids). Examples are organolith ...

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

''tert''-butyllithium from one sealed container to another came apart, spilling the chemical, and igniting a fire. Sangji was not wearing a protective lab coat and her clothing caught fire, resulting in severe burns that led to her death 18 days later. An investigation was conducted by the

California Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Division of Occupational Safety and Health of California (DOSH, but more commonly known as Cal/OSHA) is an agency of the Government of California established by the California Occupational Safety & Health Act of 1973. Administered by the Calif ...

(Cal/OSHA), which protects the public and workers from safety hazards and enforces the U.S. State of California's occupational and public safety laws. In 2009, Cal/OSHA fined UCLA $31,875 for violations relating to the fire and in 2012, the Los Angeles District Attorney filed four felony charges against the Regents of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

and Patrick Harran for "willful violation of safety regulations". However, prosecutors reached a deferred prosecution agreement after Harran agreed to pay a donation to a local burn center and do community service.. On September 6, 2018, the court announced that Harran had fulfilled the terms of the agreement, and dismissed the charges against him. Sangji's death and Harran's legal proceedings have led to a significant increase in the safety standards of research laboratories in academic settings. Sangji's family was unhappy with the terms of the settlement with Harran. Sangji's sister, Naveen, remarked " is settlement, like the previous one with UCLA, is barely a slap on the wrist for the responsible individual." She noted that previous safety violations in his lab were not corrected before her sister's death and that UCLA had ignored the "wake-up calls" of earlier accidents in other labs. She decried the nearly $4.5 million in legal fees the

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

spent defending itself and Harran.

References

{{Reflist 2008 in United States case law United States criminal case law Occupational safety and health University of California, Los Angeles Deaths from laboratory accidents 2008 in science 2008 in California University of California litigation History of the University of California, Los Angeles