Issue of
February 16, 2000

Graduate student injured in chemistry lab explosion

Just after 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, there was a small explosion in a third-floor lab in the Mudd Chemistry Building. According to Sgt. Tim Hanrahan of the Stanford Police Department, Alaric Dyckman, a graduate student in chemistry, sustained cuts on his face, chest and hands when a glass beaker exploded at his work station. Dyckman, who was wearing safety goggles at the time, was given a routine decontamination shower and was taken by the Palo Alto Fire Department to the emergency room at Stanford Hospital and later released. His injuries were not life threatening. He suffered no chemical burns. None of the other students in the lab was injured.

According to Lawrence Gibbs, vice provost in the Department of Environmental Health and Safety, the physical damage to the laboratory was negligible.

"Our major concern was for the safety and well-being of the individual," Gibbs said.

Gibbs added that some of the chemicals Dyckman was working with were potentially hazardous. One chemical was methylene chloride, a common solvent. However, Gibbs said, it was not clear what quantities of those chemicals were being used. Most of the chemicals were contained in a fume hood after the explosion.

"The materials have some hazard; that's why the safety shower was used. We're waiting to have some discussions with [Dyckman] to determine what might caused this reaction to take place," so that such accidents can be avoided in the future, said Gibbs. He added that students were back in the lab within a few hours after the incident. SR