Lessons Learned

Reports on incidents that involve injury, exposure (real or potential), or significant damage property. Lessons Learned detail what happened and how similar incidents can be avoided in the future.

Flooding Event and Improper Disposal of Glassware

March 6, 2025
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

Last month, severe flooding occurred in a campus building, leading to unexpected challenges in laboratory waste management.

A serious concern emerged when floodwater seeped into cardboard boxes, used for clean glass disposal, that did not have plastic liners. Without this essential barrier, the integrity of the boxes were compromised, rendering them unsafe for handling and disposal.

As a result, safety responders had to take extra precautions to safely transfer the broken glass and sharps to new disposal...

Electrical Fire Caused by Heat Gun Connected to Power Strip

March 6, 2025
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

A small fire broke out in a laboratory in the Department of Physics when a service technician plugged a heat gun into a power strip that was plugged into an isolation transformer. When a transformer is overloaded, the transformer can experience high operating temperatures, causing it to overheat. In this case, the overheated transformer caused a small fire to break out.

Fortunately, there were no injuries and damage was very minimal. The service technician notified the lab manager as soon as they noticed smoke. The Lab Manager...

Biological Safety

Providing support, in the form of risk assessment, review, consultation and training, for research at UC Berkeley that involves the use of recombinant DNA, biohazardous materials and biological toxins.

Biosafety How Do I: collapse all...

Workplace Safety

California state regulations require every employer to establish, implement and maintain an effective Injury & Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). In August 2017, the University adopted a campuswide Workplace Safety Program that serves as the University’s central IIPP for creating a safe and healthful work environment. Having one program for the whole University helps to improve access, consistency, and usability across all departments. EH&S is the responsible department for overseeing the campuswide Workplace Safety Program. The campus Workplace Safety Program is based on the Injury...

Laser Eye Exposure from a Specular Reflection

June 17, 2024
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

A researcher walking towards an optical table was exposed to a laser beam that reflected off a hex ball driver tool. Another researcher at a nearby bench was installing an optical component on a breadboard when the hex ball driver he was using inadvertently moved into an active beam path. The hex ball tool had a reflective surface.

Resources and Guides

Job Safety Analysis (JSA)

A JSA describes job tasks in step-by-step fashion, identifies associated hazards at each step, and outlines proper hazard controls that minimize the risk of injury or illness to the individual(s) performing that task.

JSAs Listed by Topic: Body Mechanics ...

Lessons Learned: Fume Hood Vessel Overpressurization and Skin Burns from Heating Glass

October 2, 2023
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety

The following lessons learned reports detail what went wrong and what corrective actions have been taken or will take place to address the incidents.

Skin Burns from Heating Glass Vessel

September 25, 2023
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

A researcher was heating a small volume (<30mL) of hexanes/ethyl acetate containing approximately one gram of an organic azide. The solution was placed in a capped, 40mL pyrex media storage bottle. Holding the bottle of the azide solution in their left hand, the researcher was heating it with a heat gun with their right hand behind a horizontal fume hood sash protecting their face and torso.

Fume Hood Sash Cracks due to Reaction Vessel Overpressurization

September 25, 2023
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

Using dry Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) as solvent, a reaction between an organic macrocycle and bromoethane was placed in a round bottom pressure vessel. The reaction was heated using armor aluminum beads in a stainless steel bowl sitting atop a hotplate. The setup was briefly left unattended inside a fume hood with the sash closed.

Without a means for temperature control, the hotplate generated excess heat, which in turn produced excess pressure. Overpressurization caused the round bottom vessel to shatter. Glass shards along with the aluminum heating beads...

Laser Eye Exposure from a 1 Watt Class 4 Laser Beam

January 5, 2022
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

A researcher was exposed to a 1 watt continuous wave beam from a Ti-Sapphire (852 nm) laser while visually inspecting a non-linear crystal on the optical table with a dielectric mirror. The researcher was unaware that the beam was present and it was directed into their right eye. The researcher was not wearing laser eye protection because they thought the laser was off.

Shortly after finishing the visual inspection, the researcher noticed a spot in their field of vision and realized that they had been exposed to the 852 nm laser beam. The researcher was seen at the...