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

 

“Student Involvement in Improving the Culture of Safety in Academic Laboratories” Free Webinar  | Wednesday, 1/29/14

This webinar promises to help us learn how to build a student/postdoc-led safety organization within academia; understand drawbacks and advantages to having students/postdocs drive safety initiatives; and learn specific activities and initiatives that are effective in improving the culture of safety in academic laboratories. To learn more or  to register for this free event please do so through the BioRAFT Webinar Registration Page. 

Please share this email with your colleagues and friends, particularly with your favorite science educator. We thank you for helping us share our suggestions for improving laboratory safety, because we believe that having an understanding of inherent hazards and learning how to be safer and healthier should be an integral and important part of science education, work, and life!

Read this important message from the Laboratory Safety Institute and find links to free safety resources. 

International attitudes toward lab safety

sciencereview.berkeley.edu

Do we have a false sense of security regarding safety in our labs? A recent study commissioned by the UCLA Center for Laboratory Safety suggests that this may be the case.  



Read more: http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/lab-safety-data/

Also: Safety survey reveals lab risks.  Questionnaire suggests researchers not as safe as they feel. http://www.nature.com/news/safety-survey-reveals-lab-risks-1.12121

Thanks to Laboratory Safety Institute for calling attention to this article.