IPM IS A TEAM EFFORT

Kathy Murray has a national reputation for dedication, expertise, and leadership. Murray is co-coordinator of the Northeastern School Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Working Group and a member of the National IPM School Steering Committee. The Northeastern Group is a regional group with representatives from land-grant IPM programs, government, private industry, and nonprofits from eleven northeastern states.

The School IPM Working Group encourage partnerships with diverse stakeholders such as landscape, turf, schools, homes, structures, gardens, urban forests, and public health. Murray also leads the Maine School IPM Program that provides training and guidance to all public and private schools in the state.

Kathy Murray’s presentation, “The Maine School IPM Coordinators Role," is one of the many resources she has created to help school staff meet IPM Coordinator certification standards and to implement best practices for reducing risks of pests and pesticides and improving indoor air quality.

The theme of her program is that IPM is a team effort. It reduces health risks and energy costs, saves time, protects property and the environment and solves pest problems sensibly, permanently, affordably.

A Legacy of Leadership

“Kathy is a preeminent person in New England and beyond,” says her IPM Working Group Co-coordinator, Lynn Braband, Senior Extension Associate for the NY State IPM Program of Cornell U.

"She has been a key member and leader of the School IPM Workgroup for its whole existence. She is the main school IPM outreach person for the state of Maine and her talents are used nationally. She is sought after as a collaborator. She recently received a grant to expand programs and resources for school nurses and was a collaborator on a grant to study over-seeding as a management tool on school athletic fields.”

School Nurses on the Front Lines of Public Health

Photo Credit 
Maine Forest Service

Murray’s work with school nurses is described in a recent article in EntomologyToday, The Role of School Nurses in Integrated Pest Management for Public Health.

In addition to surveys that identify gaps and needs of school staff, Murray says she learns valuable insights from visiting schools and from conversations with school staff. For example, when a school nurse called her agency for information about an infestation of browntail moth caterpillars causing severe rashes among students, Murray organized a state-wide webinar to provide timely recommendations for nurses and facility directors.

Other high interest topics for schools are ticks and mosquitoes. There are new tick tools for school nurses to promote awareness of IPM.

Murray is impressed by the level of school nurses’ activism and pride, saying “They know how to get things done.” Murray encourages school nurses and facility managers to work together to advocate for IPM resources.

A Champion for Children

Veronika Carella, a Children's Environmental Health Advocate and Legislative Director of the Maryland Children's Environmental Health Coalition is another long serving leader in the IPM School Working Group.

“As an advocate for children, I am thankful for people like Dr. Kathy Murray. Dr. Murray has worked diligently for many years to guide, educate and inspire others on how to control pests without causing harm to children and their environment. Recognizing the impact that chemical means of pest control can have on a child’s school and community, Dr. Murray has championed and promoted safer alternatives. I have seen firsthand how her efforts have improved the lives of many children."

Robert Koethe, Ph.D., Region 1 Pesticide Expert, U.S. EPA-New England, Region 1, writes,

“...While Kathy Murray’s responsibilities include working in many agricultural and non-agricultural systems she is most passionate about protecting children from risks posed by pests and pesticides. Kathy is a leader in educating parents, teachers and other school staff on pesticide use and IPM methods. She has developed innovative programs to teach school facility managers, nurses and teachers on IPM methods and complying with Maine’s school IPM program. She can always be counted on to go the extra step to help people in need of good information on protecting themselves and their children from pests and misuse of pesticides in the school environment.”

Stop School Pests: IPM for Everyone 

Murray has contributed to the development of school IPM resources such as the IPM Working Group’s “Best Management Practices for School IPM and the School IPM Cost Calculator (IPMCalculator.com) developed by Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service.

Another recent project she was involved with is the StopSchoolPests program spearheaded by the University of Arizona and the IPM Institute, the first-ever standardized, national, peer-reviewed, pilot-tested training that has undergone many rounds of feedback from participants working in schools to make sure it meets their needs. There are free online training modules for Facility Managers, Maintenance Staff, Administrative Staff, Teachers, Food Service Staff, Custodial Staff, Landscape and Grounds Staff, School Nurses and IPM Basics – Introductory training.

Murray also partners with the Maine Chapter of the Education Plant Maintenance Association that provides leadership for vendors, custodians, facility directors, safety and health professionals. Murray often provides IPM training for new and veteran IPM School Coordinators as well as custodians and maintenance staff at their annual conference.

The Compassion of a Social Worker

“I love Kathy Murray as a person and professional” writes Janet A. Hurley, MPA, Extension Program Specialist III, School IPM, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service (Hero 2013).

“Kathy is one of those rare individuals who works for a state agency, but has the compassion to do her job like a social worker. She gives of herself and her time to not just work with schools, but producers, pest control professionals, nurses, and others. Her role with Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry could just be an educator or regulator, but she truly cares of what the people of Maine need."

When I first met her I remember her work with School IPM, but she was also working with vegetable growers. She would go from a school district in the morning to a farm in the afternoon and happy all along the way. Kathy has taught me a lot over the years how to be a good leader. Working with her on the National School IPM Work Group, plus other work groups for the International IPM Symposium and eXtension Urban IPM Community of Practice I know I can count on her to get a task done.”

Feed Your Heroic Imagination

The social sciences have not answered many of the questions about why some people act heroically in certain situations, while other people do not. However, we believe that an important factor that may encourage heroic action is the stimulation of "The Heroic Imagination" -- the capacity to imagine facing physically or socially risky situations, to struggle with the hypothetical problems these situations generate, and to consider one's actions and the consequences (Franco & Zimbardo, 2007). 

By considering these issues in advance, the individual becomes more prepared to act when and if a moment that calls for heroism arises -- a moment to act when most others are passive. — Matt Landon, et al. Is Lei Feng (雷锋) Still a Modern Hero?: A Consideration of Heroic Action in the Context of Culture 

There is a hero in your area. 
It could be you. 
 Feed Your Heroic Imagination  

The Hero Construction Company  Matt Langdon is the founder of The Hero Construction Company. He writes for an adult audience at The Hero Handbook, on how to become a hero and change the world. He curates The Gallery of Heroes — the internet’s best list of heroes.  Matt has been working with the idea of heroes to create positive change in kids and adults alike with one of the most well known names in psychology, Dr. Phil Zimbardo – Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. His work has been featured in Dr. Zimbardo’s TED talks on heroism. (The Heroic Imagination Project)​

Giraffe Heroes Project  is a national nonprofit that since 1984 has been honoring the risk-takers, people who are largely unknown, people who have the courage to stick their necks out for the common good, in the US and around the world.  www.giraffe.org

The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, founded by author T. A. Barron in honor of his mother, celebrates outstanding young leaders. Each year the Barron Prize honors 25 inspiring young people who have made a significant positive difference to people and our planet. www.barronprize.org/

 

Giving Voice to Values: How to SpeakYour Mind when You Know What's Right by Mary C. Gentile Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN-13: 978-0300161182.  Review: By CSRwire Contributing Writer Elaine Cohen   ...Truly embedding a culture of ethics which compels every individual to take personal responsibility and act ethically in every situation is what makes it all work. This book offers practical advice on how to "build the muscles" to speak and act, plan "voicing values," "craft scripts" and generally be prepared for a range of situations in which bold action is required. As the author says, "It is not about deciding what the right thing to do is, but rather about how to get it done."  For more information about this book, please visit www.givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com

The Gift of Fear By Gavin De Becker. Learn how to act on your internal survival signals to protect yourself from violence, abuse and the hazards and threats imposed by others.  Although written for potential victims of stalking and violence, it is useful and empowering information for anyone who perceives a threat in a situation that others do not acknowledge or validate.   

Healthy Schools Day April 7, 2015.  

Parents can't take it for granted that schools are the healthy places and safe havens we expect them to be. Too many schools, old and new, create or ignore poor ventilation, bad sanitation, and many health and safety code violations. For example, the US EPA estimates that nearly 33,000 middle and high schools have outdated or improperly stored explosives and other hazardous chemicals in maintenance closets, labs and classrooms. It takes enormous courage, persistence and creativity to overcome the status quo of indifference or limited resources.

Healthy Schools Day reminds us to support the leaders and join the partnerships working to protect children from unhealthy and hazardous school conditions. 

Read about Healthy Kids Heroes at Heroes 2004 - 2015 (http://tinyurl.com/TX1937Hero).

Healthy Kids Hero 2015

 

Do you know where your chemicals are?

Resources for Schools!

Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County, Washington

Art Chemical Hazards
School Chemical List
Hazardous Chemicals in Schools
Proper Disposal of School Chemicals 

Rehab the Lab

 

Who Is Your 2015 Hero?  

Every year to mark the anniversary of the 

March 18, 1937 Texas School Explosion, I salute heroes whose extraordinary sense of responsibility and leadership is dedicated to protecting students and staff from chemical hazards and unhealthy school conditions.

Send your hero's story, name, and email/phone # by January 15, 2015 to ellie.goldberg@healthy-kids.info

 

IT'S TIME TO GET SMART about chemical management. Too many schools, old and new, harbor large quantities of explosives, flammables and other hazardous chemicals in labs, closets, classrooms and storerooms.

TAKE ACTION to improve your school's chemical security. 

START CONVERSATIONS* to raise awareness of resources that can save your school money and help your school prevent explosions and fires – from accidents and intentional acts.

IDENTIFY AND ELIMINATE HAZARDS before there is an accident and people get hurt.

REACH OUT to school officials, other parents, your local health department, fire department, and state agencies who are responsible for helping schools manage and dispose of chemical hazards.

PREVENT EXPLOSIONS. Ask your principal these questions:

1. Does my school have a chemical inventory?
2. Does my school have a comprehensive chemical management plan?
3. Does my school have a chemical hygiene officer?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no," your school needs an immediate checkup and safety drill.


*Bring the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to Your School

Send comments and questions to me at healthykids@rcn.com

Rules really are monuments, gravestones...

James Kaufman, founder of Laboratory Safety Institute, emphasizes the importance of schools teaching safety and teaching safely. Those who enforce safety rules not only avoid accidents in school but they give their students the skills and attitudes necessary to safeguard their future families and co-workers and "to live safer healthier longer lives."  

In a 2005 interview for Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion, Kaufman emphasized that safety rules and regulations are the lessons we learn from other people’s mistakes and short cuts.  

“What rules really are, are monuments; they are gravestones,” he said. “It’s not that safety people sit up late trying to figure out how to make it take longer and cost more money and irritate the living daylights out of their colleagues. It’s that -- as night follows day --  if you do what those people did, sooner or later, you are going to get the same result.”   Kaufman said his father once asked him, “Jim, what’s the difference between school and life?  Well, in life the test comes first and the lesson comes afterwards.”

Teaching Safely, Teaching Safety

 Peaks to Praries Pollution Prevention 

Information and Tools

Laboratory Self-Audit: Setting Up Your Audit
Classrooms and laboratories practicing pollution prevention are safer for students and in most cases easier on the school budget besides being fairly easy to implement. However, changes in thinking must occur to make the initial effort a success. Lay the groundwork for change before using the Self-Audit Checklists included in this resource. Start with some basic grassroots organizing using these suggestions or some of the many community development resources available. The result will be a program that works for your school community.  Read more

Checklists

• Art Teachers Checklist
• Family & Consumer Science (Home Economics) Checklist
• Vocational Education (Shop, Ag Ed, etc.) Checklist

Posters

• Green Clean poster
• Chemicals at School poster
• Clean Air poster
• Hazardous Chemicals poster
• Integrated Pest Management poster
• Save Energy at School poster
• Top 10 Things You Can Do to Green Your School
• Waste Reduction poster

Set aside a special day each year as a memorial....

...let us suggest the legislature of Texas set aside a special day each year to be observed as a memorial day on which tribute will be paid to the children and teachers who died in this catastrophe...and to make laws of safety... Our daddies and mothers, as well as the teachers, want to know that when we leave our homes in the morning to go to school, that we will come out safe when our lessons are over.

At the 2005 reunion of the New London School Explosion families, Carolyn Jones Frei reads the March 25, 1937 speech she gave as fifth grader Carolyn Jones to the Texas Legislature. She is standing in a corner of the London Museum being recorded by filmmaker Reva Goldberg. At her side is the machine that adds mercaptan, the warning smell to natural gas.

Complete Transcript

Mr. President, members of the house of representatives, and friends of school children, I’m here today as a representative of the London school and as a survivor of the school explosion that took the lives of nearly 500 pupils, teachers, and parents.

Last Thursday afternoon while my colleague and I were studying spelling for the interscholastic meet in which we were going to represent our school the next day, our teacher Mrs. Sory saw some pictures fall from the wall and several vases crash from the desk.

In an instant she had jerked open two nearby windows and said get out of here. We were clinging to her when we heard the first awful rumble that in a few seconds caused the room to collapse.

Mrs. Sory helped us out of the window and in another few seconds we were separated by the dark cloud of dust that blinded us.

When it got so I could see again I ran home as fast as I could. My teacher and friend were not killed, but I did not see them again.

My sister Helen Jones, an honor student and member of the high school champion debate team, was not so fortunate. She and my uncle, Paul Grier, a senior who planned to study medicine, were both taken from us in this awful explosion that killed so many of the future generation of East Texas.

When the announcement was made a few hours earlier by our principle that school would be dismissed for the county meet, the usual joy and excitement of a holiday prevailed. Little did we realize that we soon would be searching in the ruins of our beautiful school building for the bodies of our sisters and brothers and teachers.

First, as a representative of these school friends and teachers of mine, both living and dead, I am here today to express our appreciation for all that you and our governor have done for the relief of the suffering people of this community.

Second, let us suggest the legislature of Texas set aside a special day each year to be observed as a memorial day on which tribute will be paid to the children and teachers who died in this catastrophe.

We want to thank you for the memorial fund to which many of you have already contributed and which people all over the world are sending donations. We believe if those students and teachers who died would speak they would want a living memorial instead of a stately building.

By all means, we should have an appropriate but simple structure on which will appear the names of each pupil, teacher, and parent who died. With the remaining portion of money, our teachers suggest an endowment fund, to be used for the future education for the surviving children so that each might be assured of a college education if they so desired.

In conclusion, let me urge you, our lawmaking body, to make laws of safety, so it will not be possible for another explosion of this type to occur in the history of Texas schools.

Our daddies and mothers, as well as the teachers, want to know that when we leave our homes in the morning to go to school, that we will come out safe when our lessons are over.

Out of this explosion, we have learned of a new hazard that hovers about some of our school buildings. If this hazard can be forever blotted out of existence then we will not have completely lost our loved ones in vain.

We need say nothing more on the point of safety legislation because we as children of London school know that our faith in our government will not be betrayed. We will have safe school buildings in the future.

All of us who were spared will try to show our appreciation by striving to become the finest of citizens to carry on the work of this wonderful land of yours and mine.

This is our plea, thank you.

... As a result of the New London tragedy, the 45th Legislature enacted House Bill 1017 which amended Article 6053, Texas Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, giving the Railroad Commission the authority to adopt rules and regulations pertaining to the odorization of natural gas or liquefied petroleum gases. On July 27, 1937, Gas Utilities Docket 122 was adopted and the Commission began enforcement of odorization requirements for natural gas. 

Ensure that no one is ever injured...

Two years after retiring from active laboratory safety activities and upon leaving the lab safety discussion list, Dave Andrews wrote the following reminder to his colleagues:

"Fellow laboratory safety specialists: As we part company, I feel I must, for one final time, remind each of you in an academic setting that the lessons that you teach in your classes and your labs will be the habits that your charges will carry forward into industry.

If you teach safety and then allow other than 100% compliance with safe work practices in your laboratory spaces, your charges will go forth from your classes and routinely bypass safety rules and you may, one day, wonder why one of your smartest students died in a laboratory accident.

Make sure every rule in your laboratory is based on sound science and then enforce them 100% of the time for every student – and, most important, for your own work in the laboratory.

Make sure your students know that laboratory clothing and safety equipment makes no fashion statement, but is required for entrance into the lab.  Do not allow any laboratory activity to proceed without a procedure.  Remember that legal requirements are the absolute minimum you must do in your lab – the rules in your lab must be based on what is necessary to ensure that no one is ever injured by the activities conducted in your laboratories and that no one outside your laboratories has any exposure to any of the chemicals within your labs."

(Dave's response to my request for permission to reprint his words:  “Of course!  My goal is now, and has been, doing whatever is necessary to protect the American worker – especially when working with hazardous chemicals.  If these words will save one burnt finger, then they are well worth posting.  You have my permission to use them in any way you determine to be useful." Dave Andrews, 3/13/09)

Addition words of wisdom from Dave:

·         If your management cannot/will not support safety in your lab – QUIT – the job is not worth the potential grief and guilt that awaits you!

·         If you knew an employee (student) was going to have an accident in the lab tomorrow, would you be willing to fire them(remove them) today?

·         Students entering a laboratory training program should have an entrance project to research rule, prudent practices, and injury reports and develop a set of safety rules for the lab – this will grant ownership of the rules to the students.  This is not an easy job for you!

·         Safety glasses are for when no activities are going on in the laboratory – when chemicals are being used, goggles are a minimum – face shields are not eye protection – safety glasses or goggles must be worn when using a face shield.

·         Personal protective clothing is not impervious to hazardous chemicals – their only intended function is to provide reaction time – If you get splashed with chemicals , the job stops, the PPC comes off, and corrective measure begin.

·         All severely hazardous chemical splashes require use of the safety shower and removal of affected clothing – No she cannot go down to the locker room and shower there!!!

·         Compliance with applicable regulations cannot be a goal – they are a requirement for operations – the absolute minimum necessary.  You must evaluate ALL the hazards and select protective measure that will always protect the student.

·         Every injury, splash(even if no injury) or other incident in the laboratory requires evaluation and either changing the rules, increasing the frequency and intensity of training or discipline.  (Oh, and discipline is not the real answer – as all incidents are a direct result of inadequate management!)

-- Dave Andrews, CHMM (now expired)

• Radiation Safety Officer and manager safety, health and Environment at one of the largest contract non-clinical laboratories in the world.  
• Consultant/Instructor, Environmental & Occupational Consulting and Training, Inc
• Instructor, Chemistry, Safety, Radiation Safety, and Environmental at a Nuclear Electric Generation plant
• All of that without so much as a formal semester of college training, though I did take and pass (3.5) a post graduate level Toxicology class.

You can prevent explosions in your school.

Help make chemical safety part of your school's ongoing security audits and safety plan.

1) Talk with parents, educators and community leaders about making safety part of school culture.  Does everyone feel safe speaking up?  Don't go it alone. Find allies. If school staff or other parents are fearful or unresponsive, keep reaching out to others. Contact your local or state public health department, your local fire/life safety team, homeland security office or emergency preparedness center.  Your persistence could save lives.

2) Bring the Lessons to Your School Make safety part of the curriculum in science education, vocational education, occupational health and safety, community service, comprehensive school health and injury prevention, school security, emergency preparedness, environmental education, civic education, school maintenance, and operations.

3) Promote a sense of shared responsibility and accountability for student, employee and visitor health and safety in all school areas and activities. Does everyone feel "ownership" for a safe school?  

See Leadership Needed. What opportunities for leadership exist in your school?  Use these resources to update your school's values and technical skills for 21st century citizens. 

• Dangerous Chemicals You Don't Want to See in a School or Child Care Center (ppt)

• Lab Safety Videos  Four short videos provide information on managing hazardous laboratory chemicals, responding to spills, properly storing and labeling chemicals, and disposing of chemicals safely and legally when they’re no longer needed. King County, Washington Local Hazardous Waste Management Program

• Least-toxic chemistry labs This collection of fully-scripted, least-toxic chemistry labs is ready for use by high school chemistry teachers.  The set includes student and teacher guides and meets the Washington State Educational Learning Requirements

• When Good Chemicals Go Bad (Lab Out Loud podcast)

• No More Methyl Something (ppt)

• A Case Study of Environmental, Health and Safety Issues Involving the Burlington, Massachusetts Public School System. Tips, Suggestions, and Resources for Investigating and Resolving EHS Issues in Schools, Dresser, Todd H.,  (Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC; Burlington Board of Health, Burlington, MA, 1998)  http://www.epa.gov/region7/education_resources/teachers/ehsstudy/

Be Proud to be Proactive. Update your chemical inventory.

Commit to building the school and community partnerships that put a high priority on chemical clean outs and other precautionary steps.  

Many states have created resources to help schools do chemical clean-outs and to provide staff training because of accidents such as mercury spills and lab injuries. They can be allies and partners for school safety.  See US EPA Safe Chemical Management in Schools.

Does your school have a chemical inventory?

• Dangerous Chemicals You Don't Want to See in a School or Child Care Center (ppt)
• Hazards in High Schools and Middle Schools 
• School Chemical Cleanout presentation (PDF) Peaks to Praries P2 Webinar January 13, 2010

Hazardous chemicals are used in every school in both maintenance and the curriculum.  A chemical inventory lists the hazardous chemicals in science classes, labs, storerooms, art classes (such as photography, jewelry, painting and ceramics), in vocational shops (such as auto body, auto repair and printing), and in facility operations such as cleaning, painting, turf maintenance and pest control.

Why do a chemical inventory in your school?

• It avoids waste, reduces hazards and saves money on inventory duplication.
• It saves time searching for non-inventoried chemicals.
• You avoid accumulating products that cost time and money for expensive hazardous waste disposal.
• It makes sure that hazards are accounted for.  
• The wise use of chemicals (purchasing, storage, labeling, and disposal) reduces injuries and prevents costly property damage.
• It sets a high standard everyone can trust for health security and safety. 
• It prevents explosions, chemical spills, fires, and poisoning.