Yerkes pays 2/3 of original OSHA fine in 1997 researcher death
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1999:
Emory University, of Atlanta, on
December 2 announced it had agreed to pay a
fine of $66,400, two-thirds of the amount
originally assessed by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, in negotiated
settlement of charges resulting from the
December 1997 death of Yerkes Regional
Primate Research Center researcher
Elizabeth Griffin, 22.
Griffin died from a herpes B viral
infection after a caged monkey she was moving
apparently spat in her eye. Griffin was not
wearing eye protection. It was the first documented
case of herpes B infection through the
eye membranes. As well as lowering the fine,
OSHA also dropped language from the settlement
agreement which stated Yerkes had
“willfully” broken safety rules.