Fire in synthesis lab

24/10/2013

Not my fume hood and caused by persons unknown in my lab at RMIT on 11-Feb-2013, this really placed a drag on my 3rd year of PhD. I spent three months as a visitor at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences while repairs were to be made and then one month in America for conference/holiday. When I returned, it still wasn't fixed. This made my PhD harder to get. It's amazing I got so much work done this year!
Please note: Unfortunately, RMIT does not provide a fumehood to each researcher. The fumehood in this photo does not belong to any one person.

6 Comments

Howard Tankey

30/10/2013 06:57:41 am

RMIT should be expending energy on fixing this fume cupboard rather than wasting time trying to get Matthew to take this photo off his site.
I'm not sure which is worse - trying to censor very harmless information or negligence in not completing a very simple but important task.

See Arr Oh link

30/10/2013 03:35:18 pm

This picture doesn't seem all that damaging, unless it's part of an ongoing investigation by the institute. There are no structures to violate IP, no personal injury, and no party implicated. I'd say it's equivalent to posting pictures of a wrecked car or demolished building.

Brendan Hillary link

31/10/2013 09:15:28 am

Laboratory Safety can only be advanced with open and thorough discussions of what went wrong. That way a repeat may may be prevented in the future. As an educational facility I would have thought RMIT should be supporting the promotion of laboratory safety rather than trying to hide what they see as an embarrassment . This should be used as a promotional incident for RMIT (no-one was injured) rather than shooting the messenger. None of us are infallible.

Chris

31/10/2013 12:01:01 pm

I think it is ridiculous that material such as this should be removed. The internet is a space where much more damaging and malicious content can be found, and i'm sure that RMIT should focus on posts from external sources, that may actually have some sort of effect on the status of the university, rather than an innocent post, made in good taste which would not have any ill effects, from someone involved with the university.

Adam

31/10/2013 02:06:05 pm

RMIT's attempt to censor this issue is totally unjustified. This post is not offensive in any way. If someone can't express their sentiment towards a situation or problem what rights do they have? The fume cupboard should have been repaired quicker and this should be the institutes primary concern along with trying to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

Tom

9/11/2013 01:52:11 am

Looks good!

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Fire in synthesis lab

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