Thanks for sharing, Ralph! Anyone who’s associated with laboratory research would benefit from reading it. There are plenty of insights and lessons learned, but I think the part that will grab the attention of researchers is how they described, in very personal terms, how the fire impacted them:

“Less quantifiable consequences of the fire were the psychological factors associated with it, stress being one, and feelings of guilt another... The stress was aggravated by the thoughts of interviews and investigations that would follow with the fire brigade, police, insurance agents and university representatives, but much of this stress was in fact unwarranted. The insurers did pay out and the investigations were not confrontational or accusative, but were instead professional, compassionate and supportive.

Only after the last investigator left did the full weight of reality set in. Our prized laboratory was now a useless, smelly, wet, burnt-out shell. We had lost equipment, ongoing and legacy samples, intermediates and written records such as laboratory books. It is one thing to think in terms of lost laboratory and research functionality, but we also suffered less tangible and quantifiable losses in creativity and innovation, competitive edge, funding potential and reputation due to delays in experimental work and publishing our research.”

Chris

________________________________

Christopher M. Kolodziej, Ph.D.
Chemical Hygiene Officer

UCLA Environment, Health & Safety | Chemical Safety

Mobile: (203) 241-6515

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-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Ralph Stuart
Sent: Thursday, July 6, 2023 4:57 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Insights from a laboratory fire

FYI, there is an 5 page article on a 2021 laboratory fire in Nature Chemistry that was published yesterday. The fire was in Vienna and appears to have been ignited by a neglected Lithium battery in a long unused laptop. The laptop was associated with a legacy piece of analytical equipment in the lab.

Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall, so I can’t read beyond the first page, but I have an Interlibrary Loan request in to retrieve the complete article. I suspect that there is more useful information in the “insights” portion of the article. It can be found at

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-023-01254-6

Let me know if you have any questions about this.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO

ralph**At_Symbol_Here**rstuartcih.org

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