What's new
What's new

student dies in machine shop accident....

Bummer.

I hope the powers-that-be (the ones trying to close or halve the size of our machine shop) don't get any ideas from this.

So far, in the ten years since I have been responsible for the Engineering Physics machine shop, the worst that has happened is a barked knuckle when a student bumped their hand on some burrs. No spindle was running at the time.

I would like to know more about the nature of the accident.

-DU-
 
What a drag. A classmate of mine died while I was in college. Not in a machine shop accident but tragic death non the less. super suck.
 
Sure doesn't say much about what happened and how. Should we assume long hair in a drill press? or will an actual report come out eventually? do they have cameras in those labs monitoring everything?

I wonder what sort of training chemistry students actually get, anywhere, in regards to using any equipment in a machine shop, and if there's always a properly trained person there to surprise the equipment use. Goes for engineering students as well...
 
SND,

Yeah they are short on the details... like, none. If it was hair caught in a DP, (or a grinder or a mill or a lathe) it would especially suck since that type of accident is so easily avoided.

She was a Physics and Astronomy major. Apparently they share the shop with Chemistry.

In our shop we make stuff for Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry, Environmental Science, and even Visual Arts, and Psychology all the time.

-DU-
 
Found this on wtnh.com. This is terrible.

Yale student dies in lab accident

Updated: Wednesday, 13 Apr 2011, 10:38 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 13 Apr 2011, 8:57 AM EDT
New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - A senior at Yale University has died in what the university says appears to be a lab accident involving a piece of equipment.
Michele Dufault was killed.
Because of what happened Sterling Chemistry Laboratory is closed for today.
"By all reports, Michele was an exceptional young woman, an outstanding student and young scientist, a dear friend and a vibrant member of this community," Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer wrote in a campuswide email, the Yale Daily News reported .
The New Haven Register is reporting that her hair became trapped in a lathe , pulling her in.
 
Thanks Mud.

Getting her hair caught in a lathe... damn that is a shame because it is so easily avoided (hair net, shower cap.)

The accident was reported at 2:33 AM! She may have been working alone in a near empty building.

I never allow my students to work alone (late at night or otherwise.) While our labs are open 24/7 the machine shop is only open when I am in the shop. I will take a bathroom break while students are in the shop (the mens room is right next to the shop.)

-DU-
 
There are a lot of highly educated stupid people out there

Harsh, I know--but true

I had an engineering grad bring me a piece of CRS, and ask "can you drill a hole in this?"

"Yeah shure--what size hole?"

"What size can you drill?"

Otherwise seemed to be able to dress herself and played well with others.

Herb
 
There are a lot of highly educated stupid people out there

Hey! I resemble that remark!

In undergraduate chem lab I mixed a strong oxidizer (benzoyl peroxide) and an organic in a glass bottle to make an photosensitive initiator. Exploded. Got glass shrapnel in my face and chest. Could have been much, much worse.

I do hope that Yale does the right thing and says something like "this was an avoidable tragedy, and we will make necessary training and supervisory changes to ensure nothing like this happens ever again. We will also work to ensure that Yale students continue to have access to the machines they need to learn in their field".
 
David,
Where are you? I'm the Machinist for the Purdue Chemistry Dept.

Randy,

Engineering Physics
School of Theoretical and Applied Science
Ramapo College of New Jersey
505 Ramapo Valley Road
Mahwah, NJ 07430

My job title is: Engineering Physics Lab Director
(which is fancy sounding title for "technician")

One of the things I do is run the small machine shop at the college. I also train students to use the machines safely. Takes quite a while to get a student up to speed so that they can make what they want without hurting themselves or destroying tooling and equipment. For that reason I often end up making much of their projects for them... takes less time that way... and they still learn a lot.

-DU-
 
It's only a story because it's a Yale student. If it happened at some crap college no one would give a shit.

Same as when cute little blond girls get abducted, huge story. Bus load of black kids disappear, yawn... Huh what?... Did you catch American idol last night....
 
...

The New Haven Register is reporting that her hair became trapped in a lathe , pulling her in.

When I was in college, our student machine shop had a set of South Bend Heavy 10 lathes, which have a flat belt drive. They are excellent machines for a student shop, because they are forgiving and relatively low power (about 1/2 HP ? ). Those were the machines that we students used. The bigger lathes were for the professionals. The most powerful machines we could use were Series 1 Bridgeport mills.

The bigger horsepower lathes can be pretty scary, and I am surprised that a student would have access to such a machine. (I assume that the machine involved was an old, manual, gear driven, multi-HP lathe.) Some of the photos of lathe accidents, which have been posted on this forum, show the gruesome results.
 
Folks keep in mind she was someone's daughter, niece, sister.

It was a tragic accident, and should be treated as such. We all have done things when we were rushed, tired, late on delivery and in her case with a very tragic result.

One Photo I had on the back of the shop door was an x-ray showing four fingers missing. Comment was "I just wanted to make one more cut on the table saw before calling it a night". Probably the best safety warning I had in the shop.
 
Long hair in a machine tool. Sadly classic.

Sorry as hell about the victim but routine shop safety indoctrination stresses the hazards of sleeves, loose garments, long hair, and the need for ear and eye protection etc.

It might be brutal to point this out but if the safety indoctrination was up to snuff, the death was a Darwinian event. Machinery does what it does, even if flesh and blood are in the way..
 
When I was in college, our student machine shop had a set of South Bend Heavy 10 lathes, which have a flat belt drive. They are excellent machines for a student shop, because they are forgiving and relatively low power (about 1/2 HP ? ). Those were the machines that we students used. The bigger lathes were for the professionals. The most powerful machines we could use were Series 1 Bridgeport mills.

The bigger horsepower lathes can be pretty scary, and I am surprised that a student would have access to such a machine. (I assume that the machine involved was an old, manual, gear driven, multi-HP lathe.) Some of the photos of lathe accidents, which have been posted on this forum, show the gruesome results.

I'm against this line of thinking....

A s/b with a flat belt drive running a little 6" chuck a 1500 rpm
would have the same outcome with hair involved.

Treat the spindle as having "Unlimited force" just as you SHOULD
treat any gun as loaded.

I still don't understand why these places do not have to fall
under the same rules from O.S.H.A. as any shop.

Just like county municiple workers don't need to use trenchboxes.
 
I'm against this line of thinking....

A s/b with a flat belt drive running a little 6" chuck a 1500 rpm
would have the same outcome with hair involved.

Treat the spindle as having "Unlimited force" just as you SHOULD
treat any gun as loaded.

I still don't understand why these places do not have to fall
under the same rules from O.S.H.A. as any shop.

Just like county municiple workers don't need to use trenchboxes.

You make a valid point, to treat the spindle as having unlimited force.


I looked at the link to the story in the school newspaper, and saw all the comments by those who knew the victim. As others have stated, this is very sad:

Michele Dufault '11 dies in Sterling Chemistry Laboratory accident | Yale Daily News


.
 
Last edited:








 
Back
Top