University to pay 1.62m yuan for lab blast

Changning District People's Court has ruled that Donghua University should pay over 1.62 million (US$250,000) to a student injured in a laboratory explosion in 2016.

Both sides lodged appeals against the ruling on Tuesday, the plaintiff Guo Hongzhen told the Beijing News.

According to the judgment issued by the court in December, in September 2016, three postgraduates from the university’s College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology were experimenting with potassium permanganate and concentrated sulfuric acid in the lab. According to media reports, when Guo added 100 grams of potassium permanganate to concentrated sulfuric acid, there was an explosion.

No one wore goggles during the experiment and no university staff were present, including their tutor, surnamed Nie, who had asked them to do the experiment.

Blinded by the chemicals, Guo was sent to Ruijin Hospital for treatment.

He was identified as having a fourth-grade disability, the fourth most serious in a 10-grade system, because of severe visual impairment. His face also suffered an eighth-grade disability.

Guo sued the university in 2019 for over 1.7 million yuan in compensation.

In its ruling in December, the district court said Guo should take a small amount of responsibility for the incident due to his actions and lacks of protection and awarded 1.6 million yuan, 400,000 yuan less than the amount he proposed.

However, Guo claimed to be entirely blameless, according to media reports.

Guo also claimed that due to the incident, he had postponed his graduation for two years to 2019 but he could not find a good job because of his injuries. Currently, he had a part-time job in Guangdong Province, earning 2,000 yuan a month.

The Changning court told Shanghai Daily that both sides appeals hadn’t been accepted by the intermediate court yet. At press time, no information had been provided by Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court or Donghua University.