EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) – New details are emerging as investigators are trying to determine what caused a chemical explosion at the UO Wednesday afternoon that injured a faculty member.
The small explosion happened around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at Huestis Hall on the UO campus. It happened in a biology lab on the third floor, in the northeast corner of building.
The University of Oregon still hasn’t released the name of the person involved due to medical privacy laws, but the male faculty member’s injuries aren’t as serious as originally thought.
UO spokesman Phil Weiler says the injured faculty member was not burned in the incident, but did receive cuts to his arm which had to be stitched.
At the time of the explosion, the UO says the faculty member involved was cleaning a fume hood used to evacuate chemical exhaust.
The UO’s campus environmental safety technicians are still investigating, looking into what chemicals were in use when the explosion occurred.
“I think the big take away is that the system that we had in place, both at the University level and the Eugene Fire level worked really well,” said UO spokesman Phil Weiler.
“People responded very quickly, we had all the resources we need if this were a serious incident. Fortunately, it was not, but I think it was good for us to see that the system does work,” said Weiler.
The explosion did not cause any exterior damage. Inside, several glass containers broke in the explosion, spreading shattered glass in the small laboratory.
Tuesday night, all of Huestis Hall was reopened for normal use, except for the lab that the explosion happened in.
