Reactive chemistry incidents in laboratories

Uncontrolled reactions in laboratories frequently result in significant property damage, loss of research productivity and personal injury. Investigations of incidents suggest that the root cause of each incident is usually the lack of attention to well-known principles. Three incidents are examined to present the root and contributing causes and the lessons learned: a solvent fire; a sodium metal-solvent fire; and a solvent fire following the failure of a thermal distillation apparatus. General guidelines are presented which summarize the lessons learned from these events.