October 23, 2015

UNSAFE SCIENCE

Across the country, students in school science classrooms and other laboratory settings are being burned and injured when accidents occur during science demonstrations. (UNSAFE SCIENCE by Andrew Minister, NFPA Journal, September-October 2015.) NFPA Journal is the official magazine of the National Fire Protection Association NFPA.org 

Andrew Minister is chief fire protection engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, and chair of NFPA's committee on Laboratories Using Chemicals.
A few of the resources in UNSAFE SCIENCE
CSB safety bulletin, “Key Lessons for Preventing Incidents from Flammable Chemicals in Educational Demonstrations.” By following the requirements of NFPA 45 and the lessons provided by the CSB, and by exercising caution and common sense in laboratory settings, schools and teachers can prevent these incidents that have resulted in injury and trauma to hundreds of students.

NFPA Lab Safety Tip sheet for Teachers and Students Download NFPA's Lab safety tip sheet. (PDF, 1.72 MB)

Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI), an international nonprofit education organization for laboratory safety that provides low-cost laboratory safety training and reference materials for schools.  
More at UNSAFE SCIENCE

 

October 16, 2015

What's That Smell? How Natural Gas Is Odorized For Safety

Oct 8, 2015

In 1937, a natural gas leak caused a big explosion, destroying a school in New London, Texas, and killing nearly 300 teachers and students.
 
Daniel Davila with CPS Energy says that event changed the gas industry forever.  

More: Texas Public Radio http://tpr.org/post/whats-smell-how-natural-gas-odorized-safety