Wow. Have you seen this?
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/28/local/la-me-1228-ucla-death-20111228
The PI of the lab at UCLA where the staff research assistant died in a lab accident in 2008 has been charged with a FELONY and could get 4.5 years in prison.
Not all that long ago I was involved in a close-call situation where a graduate student working on her own project, in a "shared" lab space 5 floors away from my lab and office, and using her own research funds was not cautious enough with a fairly dangerous chemical, although she technically did follow the MSDS. Nothing happend, but it was close and EH&S got all involved and the safety officer kept saying that this was all my fault and that I could face all kinds of legal things.
I was really annoyed about this and have since cut way back on the freedom I allow my graduate students to have. This is sad for them, as it means they can't explore techniques that I do not know well, a pretty limited repertoire to say the least since I don't get all that much time at the bench now that I run the lab. This is stifling for science. But I feel forced to cover my ass.
As financial resources are cut back on campuses, we have lost the staff who can serve as lab managers and safety officers. "Shared" lab space has no responsible PI, and despite my efforts to try to gain some control over the space I was involed with, I was not allowed to exert the control that would have prevented the near-incident. However, because of how universities have reorganized due to budget cutbacks, whichever faculty member is closest to the incident is held responsible. Hence, in my situation, while I was not allowed to have control I was expected to bear all the rsponsibility.
I have mixed feelings about these felony charges. Obviously I have no idea what really happened, what lead up to it, etc. The end result is horrible, and I am a bit surprised that Harran, the prof, doesn't have any mention of the scientist who was killed on his lab website...
But from my own personal experiences and seeing how more and more responsibilty and liability is being put onto the shoulders of PIs with shrinking institutional support, I feel like faculty are in a horrible position. How are we honestly supposed to do all of the work to develop research projects, procure grant funding, teach classes, design research, get all of the permissions for that research (be it IACUC, IRB, BUA, etc.), mentor students, write letters of recommendation, write papers, AND be paying super close attention to the details of what every single person in your lab is doing even if they are not working on one of your projects but rather on their own independently funded project. Don't forget about service on departmental and campus committees, reviewing manuscripts, etc. Add onto this the increasing adminsitrative work that my university has been shifting onto our shoulders in order to save costs by reducing administrative staff (i.e., professors can do their own xyz themselves in just 15 minutes!), and this is getting ridiculous.
I feel really nickled and dimed to death, and I hate that if anyone screws up in my lab I am the one who pays the price no matter what. To think that this could result in a felony charge as well as having my ass sued in criminal court... I am worried about this precedent.
That is really scary. I can see how you would be very concerned.
ReplyDeleteI feel mixed about this. On the one hand, I can't believe that the PI is responsible. But it's along the same lines as universities being held accountable for the suicides of their undergraduates. Why are we held financially accountable for behavior of free willed individuals?
ReplyDeleteIt has a lot to do, I think, with the way in which views of parenting have changed. Now we expect parents to be helicopters. And when they're not there any more, the people in charge are the parents. When do we allow children (students) to become responsible for themselves? It's an interesting, and complicated, question.