I find it tragic that some participants in this blog could so quickly jump to an argument that this was not really a " chemical accident". I would like them to try to offer that lame and na rrow viewpoint to the parents of the deceased young lady. Her parents& nbsp;sent her her to Yale, a distinguished institution, in the hope that sh e would receive  an excellent education and be kept safe. I hope that the safety professionals at Yale are not wasting much time arguing ove r who did or did not have responsibility for oversight of the Machine Shop in the Basement of the Chemistry Building. Rather, I hope they are asking h ow  could this have happened at Yale, was it because they work in "silos" and no one has accepted real responsibility for safety. I hope the President of Yale is asking how did he and the University  fail this young lady. Does Yale really give adequate attention to the health and safety of its employees and students? Or do they merely meet the  ;narrow requirements of the law. I urge each of you to ask the same qu estions of your selves and your institution.

    ;   The comments I offer are based on having provided leadership for two major research laboratories, one focused on studying the toxicity o f  radioactive materials and the other on studying chemicals. In both cases , I found it important to go beyond the requirements of the law and h ave a Health and Safety Unit that reported directly to me as the CEO and to assure that the Unit was staffed by well-trained and credentialed professi onals (certified Industrial Hygienists and Health Physicists, Safety Specia lists, and Fire Protection Specialists)  who worked as a team and inst illed a true commitment to health and safety in all our employees and stude nts. We did not waste much time over arguing about boundaries. One of the b iggest challenges I and my staff faced was dealing with the narrow perspect ive of the "government agency" auditors whose focus was usually on rad iation or chemical safety.

     I hope tha t everyone can learn from yet another tragic accident at a major academic i nstitution, I am recalling the events at UCLA that are still ingrained in m y memory. Those memories were recently refreshed with UCLA announcing a new Center for Chemical Safety. I hope the Chancellor at UCLA and the Presiden t of the University of California will reflect on the Yale tragedy and ask if they have given the appropriate scope to their new venture and staffed i t with well-trained and credentialed personnel. I suggest that each of you do the same irrespective of the nature of your organization be it private o r public , academic or research or production.

    Most of all, please do not set artificial boundaries on pieces of turf& nbsp;within your organizations  that have  impact on the  he alth and safety of employees and students. Unfortunately, some agencies lik e OSHA do that under the guise of following the law, recall they noted the Yale accident was not of concern to them because the victim was a student n ot an employee. Sounds like the refrain from California. I hope that OSHA h as come out of hiding at Yale and is at least cooperating in the investigat ion. Recalling the UCLA accident I hope the President of Yale does not init iate renovation of the Machine Shop and destroy evidence before the ac cident investigation is concluded.

    Thanks f or letting me express my views.

      Roger