After two students were injured in an organic chemistry II laboratory last semester, officials updated lab safety policies to prevent another incident.
After a small explosion in an organic chemistry lab yesterday injured two university students, officials said the chemistry building is now safe to use and the students are in stable condition.
At 12:30 p.m. yesterday, the explosion and a small fire occurred in room 1308 of the chemistry building while CHEM 242 students were performing lab experiments. Although officials said the exact cause of the fire is still unknown — University Police officials said an investigation is ongoing — Prince George’s County Hazardous Materials Team personnel determined a reaction between nitric acid, sulfuric acid and unknown materials in a waste container likely caused the explosion.
“A class experiment was going on using nitric acid and sulfuric acid, which usually play pretty well together, but when they poured these materials into a chemical waste container is when the violent explosion occurred,” Prince George’s County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady said. “The role the waste container played is something [the environmental safety department] will have to come up with.”
The two injured students were hosed down on the scene to remove any potentially dangerous chemicals from their bodies before being taken to the hospital, Brady said. They suffered first- and second-degree burns on their faces, arms and front parts of their bodies. One student suffered superficial cuts from exploding glass shards, Brady said.
At least one of the students has been released from the hospital and returned to the building to retrieve her belongings, according to University Police spokesman Marc Limansky. He said both students are in stable condition.
Brady said although the fire department often deals with minor incidents because of the nature of science labs, he cannot recall a serious student injury.
“There’s always some type of incident when you deal with chemicals and experiments, but I don’t recall anyone being injured like these two were,” Brady said.
Chemistry graduate student Derek Jendras said he was teaching a lab next door when he heard the explosion. When he looked through the window to the lab, he saw a protective hood — where students dump excess chemicals or perform experiments with hazardous materials underneath so they aren’t released into the air — on fire. Glass containers sitting next to the container exploded, Jendras said.
County fire fighters arrived on the scene about 15 minutes later and put out the fire. Hazmat personnel entered the room about two hours later, neutralized the affected area and ensured the building was safe for reentry, Brady said.
About 1,000 students evacuated the chemistry building after the incident. The building was closed until about 4 p.m., but Brady said officials still needed to perform testing inside the affected lab to determine what caused the violent reaction.
Limansky said the building only sustained minor mechanical damages in the lab and there were no structural damages.
“It was a chemical reaction that happened at a rapid pace, so it’s akin to an explosion, but not an explosion where something actually blew up,” Limansky said. “It was enough to cause glass to shatter and some minor injuries.”
An emergency University Police alert wasn’t emailed to students until about 2 p.m., Limansky said, because the situation was so chaotic.
“It was really hectic in communications room for a while,” he said. “There were lots of calls coming in, so it was jut a matter of when we could get the text out.”
Senior biology major Taylor Davis, who was in the lab next door when the fire took place, said she heard a loud noise and felt a vibration that caused her to look at what happened.
“We were in lab, and there was this loud explosion,” Davis said. “We looked to the lab next door and there was broken glass everywhere. It was scary.”
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