MIT Incident – Hood Fire Coordinator-Lead Contact Meeting September 17, 2013 Presented by Jennifer Lynn Thanks to Bret Dyer, Pam Greenley, Eric Hammond

What happened? At about 7:54 AM on Friday morning 8/23/13, a lab researcher was running a 1 gram scale hydrogenation reaction, which involved stirring under hydrogen atmosphere in the presence of palladium on carbon (Pd/C), in chemical fume hood The researcher had been trained in this procedure by the supervisor, had performed it successfully many times, and was running it within known experimental parameters

What happened? Researcher was wearing standard lab coat, safety glasses, and gloves The researcher was performing the experiment in the morning before lab gets busier, but per lab policy of ‘no working alone’, another lab member was nearby The reaction had gone to completion, so researcher began purification procedure by filtering reaction mixture with methanol over Celite (diatomaceous earth) while pulling a slight vacuum

During filtration, the Celite bed dried out quicker than anticipated causing the Pd/C to ignite in the filter funnel. Pd/C catalysts containing absorbed hydrogen are pyrophoric especially when dry. This spark caused the solvent fumes from the methanol to ignite as well The lab researcher looked for a fire extinguisher in lab space but did not see any What happened?

Meanwhile the EHS Rep, who was in adjoining lab room, came to help. The EHS Rep obtained a fire extinguisher from adjoining lab and put out the fire with it (ABC type). The EHS Rep was not trained in fire extinguisher use. While this was happening, the duct smoke alarm was automatically set off alerting the Operations Center EHS Rep directed lab researcher to call 100, where he informed operator of fire and its extinguished status What happened?

About 10 min later, MIT Facilities came by and inspected the hood for damage. There was none. At about 8:15 AM, Pam Greenley from EHS arrived to assess situation with Bret Dyer and Eric Hammond coming by 9:00 AM. Clean Harbors was brought in to clean up extinguishing agent. By 11:30 AM the “all clear” was given for researchers to return to work There were no injuries or property damage What happened?

Post-Incident Photo

Why did it happen? The Celite bed dried out quicker than anticipated The lab researcher and supervisor immediately reviewed the experiment post-incident and came up with a few possible ideas to improve procedure –Pre-wet filter bed –Squirt methanol continuously over filter bed during filtration process –Add dimethyl formamide (DMF) in the filter solvent to decrease evaporation rate of solvent over filter bed

Recommended Corrective Actions Implement improvements to experimental procedure Develop written SOP for this procedure and document training Use of flame-resistant lab coats Provide fire extinguisher training for select researchers in the lab Consider keeping dry sand in lab to extinguish very small incipient fires in fume hood for certain reactives like Pd/C and combustible metals Installation of two ABC fire extinguishers in lab

MIT Policy is NOT to fight fires - evacuate immediately and pull fire alarm Portable fire extinguishers use is: –For trained personnel only –For incipient fires –Always voluntary Importance of NOT working alone in the lab Other take-aways…