On another e-mail list I follow someone asked the question: What's the best source of information (links, texts, etc.) for high school chemical safety? And Are there any prohibited chemicals? (recommended, regulatory, or otherwise). I thought that DCHAS-L might be interested in some of the answers... - Ralph == Subject: Re: High School Lab Safety From: "Harry J. Elston"There are a number of resources for secondary school chemical safety. As with most things, some are better than others. NIOSH "Safe Lab: School Chemistry Laboratory Safety Guide" (available here: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2007-107/pdfs/2007-107.pdf) is not bad but it does have some issues. Linda Stoud's group, Science and Safety Consulting Group, has put together a good work for the secondary schools. Information is available here: http://www.sciencesafetyconsulting.com/products/index.html . Products are not free. The American Chemical Society's Committee on Chemical Safety has written a series of safety guides for secondary schools, "Chemical Safety for Teachers and Their Supervisors, Grades 7-12." That is a publication by CCS. You can get a single free copy by asking, multiple copies are $2.50 each. The publication is NOT available for download. Information is available here: http://membership.acs.org/C/CCS/publications.htm Additionally, the CCS has issued a number of small documents regarding specific issues for secondary school chemical safety. These are PDF files, free, and are available here: http://membership.acs.org/C/CCS/default.htm The Journal of Chemical Education often has safety information in it, especially in the form of "CLIPs" "Chemical Laborartory Information Profiles" - These are similar to the Laboratory Chemical Safety Summary (LCSS) found in Prudent Practices in that they are one-two page summaries, but, in my opinion, are more concisely written from a risk management perspective. They are very readable and understandable to anyone that has had general/organic chemistry. Some of these are also available on the CCS front page (above). Regarding "banned chemicals." There are no "banned" chemicals in secondary school laboratories. However there are a number of chemicals that pose significant risk to students and faculty who are not well versed in handling hazardous materials. The CCS has issued a guidance document regarding these chemicals, "Reducing Risks to Students and Educators from Hazardous Chemicals in a Secondary School Chemical Inventory" which is one of the guidance documents that is located on the CCS front page. This document was prepared from the risk managment perspective with the knowledge that many secondary school educators are not well versed in handling hazardous chemicals. Additionally, the NIOSH document that was mentioned above also contains a listing of chemicals that have limited use in the secondary school, pages 33 and following. Harry Harry J. Elston, Ph.D., CIH Editor, Journal of Chemical Safety Chair, Safe Practices Subcommittee, CCS == From: Terri Prichard Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:30:21 -0700 If you are in California, there is a document called The Science Safety Handbook for California Public Schools (1999 Edition) available at: http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/documents/scisafebk.pdf It doesn't exactly ban chemicals, but it does list chemicals "not recommended". == Subject: Re: High School Lab Safety From: Ron Yovich Colorado has a pretty extensive list of prohibited and restricted amount chemicals that the State has incorporated into the regulations for schools. See the link below: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/regulations/consumer/101006schools.pdf The State has conducted inspections and cleanouts at most of the secondary schools in the larger metropolitan areas over the past few years. Most of the prohibited materials have been removed and disposed of through the proper channels.
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