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According to a statement she submitted to both the chemistry department as well as the Health and Human Safety department, the explosion occurred when she was preparing her fourth run using a bomb calorimeter, a sealed metal container which is used to identify an unknown substance. She used directions given in her course lab manual while lab assistant Kevin Bates oversaw that she followed the procedure exactly.

As Herrera mechanically vibrated the thermometer inserted in her calorimeter and pushed a button that ignited the bomb to cause combustion within it, the calorimeter began to emit large sparks. People around the laboratory heard a loud explosion, and soot and liquid sprayed in all directions, landing on the floor, the ceiling, the counter top and Herrera. "There wasn't a fire. There was a lot of pressure released which caused the noise," Herrera said.

"People up and down the hallway could hear [the explosion]," Herrera said. The explosion did not injure either Bates or Herrera. Neither person felt any immediate effects; in fact, Herrera went to a rehearsal for a play immediately after the incident, she said. Although the explosion only stained Herrera's clothes and arms with the scattered soot, it could have seriously injured her if the thermometer had broken.

According to Bates' statement, the pressure release valve on the bomb seemed to be the point of explosion. "The fact is that you have these bombs, which is a little device to deal with high pressures, then you ignite an explosion in there. A small portion of the container [she was using] had corroded and loosened, and at the higher pressure point it just gave," Bates said, speculating about the explosion's cause.

"No safety regulation instructions had been given to me, and consequently I was not wearing goggles. I now question why I was not instructed to do so," Herrera wrote in her statement.

The physical chemistry lab course syllabus lists no safety precautions, Herrera said. "I've taken all the introductory labs where Teaching Assistants walk around and make sure you have your goggles on ... when I went into this lab, I expected that they would tell me what I had to do. I trusted them and assumed that I wouldn't need any safety equipment."

Although wearing goggles, along with other safety precautions, is part of the official safety policy of the chemistry department, the rules are less strictly enforced in upper division chemistry lab courses, Bates said. "In general, these are safe, non-explosive labs. So recently, we have been pretty lax [about the regulations]."

Professors tend to enforce the safety regulations more stringently for freshman, because they are just beginning to adjust to lab protocol. "Officially, [students in upper division courses] are supposed to wear goggles, however, the professors haven't made sure that they have goggles in class," Bates said. Moreover, more experienced students are expected to know when to ask for goggles, unlike newer students.

This is a watershed event for the chemistry department's enforcement policy. "We are really responding to what happened. In addition to making goggles more available, teacher assistants will point out what is dangerous," Bates said.

As for equipment, the chemistry department has no formal maintenance policy at the moment. The person in charge of a course oversees equipment upkeep. However, this incident will probably effect more organized protocol about how to ensure that equipment is in safe working order, Bates said

Soon after the explosion, Chemistry department lab professor Graham Glass called Herrera and the department is issuing her a check to replace her clothes and contacts that were damaged from the explosion. A preliminary checkup from a Health Services doctor found her in good shape, and she is now waiting to have a lung capacity test done.

Glass could not be reached for comment before press time.

This item appeared in the News section of the October 3, 1997 issue.