Criminal charges brought after researcher dies

Nature : On 29 December 2008, chemistry research assistant Sheharbano Sangji suffered third-degree burns when the t-butyl lithium she was drawing from a bottle via a syringe burst into flames. She wasn’t wearing a lab coat, and her clothes caught fire. She died in the hospital 18 days later. In the wake of Sangji’s death, UCLA tightened its safety policies; but despite calls to improve academia’s safety standards across the US, there’s little evidence that bench scientists or laboratory heads outside of UCLA have changed their behavior.The Los Angeles district attorney has now charged UCLA and organic chemist Patrick Harran with three counts each of “willful violation of an occupational health and safety standard causing the death of an employee.” Harran faces up to four and a half years in prison if convicted, and UCLA could be fined as much as $1.5 million on each count. UCLA notes in its statement that an earlier investigation by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health found “no willful violations on the part of UCLA”, and says it plans to fight the charges.