Hi Richard,

Wonder why no more.

The answer is simple.  It's been clear to me for the past forty-four years.  Bob Hill recently summarized the "condition" graphically in his JCHAS article.  I have been calling it -.

THE CYCLE OF IGNORANCE

(I had to remove the graphic because it was getting the message rejected.  I can send it separately if we connect this time.)

Bottom line: they won't learn it if we don't teach it.  Full stop!

This is why I founded the Laboratory Safety Institute after the realization happen at Dow Chemical in 1973 after 25 years in school.  I began sharing what I was learning at Dow with schools (secondary and elementary), colleges, and universities.

Today, LSI needs your help.  We want to launch a massive effort to reach the 15,000 school districts in the US.  We want to partner with the Council of State Science Supervisors and seek a Susan Harwood grant for the next five years.

I hope you will wonder no more and contact the science supervisor at your local school district and provide them with the in-service education they need to be more aware and better prepared.  LSI will help you if you want to do it.  Be an LSI Ambassador.

Everyone on the DCHAS listserv can do it.  Write less and talk more to local school districts.  Stop talking about what school science teacher don't know and start teaching them.

I hope you and others will want to chat on the phone (anytime) and see what we can do to break the cycle of ignorance.

Regards - Jim

PS. I was in Seattle last week teaching a class on "Leadership in Safety" for the senior management of a pharmaceutical company.  This four hour seminar increases their understanding of their critical role in creating a more effective company-wide EHS program.  

I was reviewing Metropolitan's website and noticed that lab safety is not part of the listed training.  May LSI be your preferred provider as a sub-contractor?  If you list it, we will teach (to paraphrase Fields of Dreams).

James A. Kaufman, Ph.D.

President/CEO
The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI)
A Nonprofit Educational Organization for

Safety in Science, Industry, and Education

192 Worcester Street, Natick, MA 01760-2252
508-647-1900  Fax: 508-647-0062 
Cell: 508-574-6264  Res: 781-237-1335
Skype: labsafe; 508-319-1225

jim**At_Symbol_Here**labsafetyinstitute.org  www.labsafetyinstitute.org

Past-Chair, ICASE Committee on Safety in Science Education

International Council for Associations of Science Education

www.icaseonline.net

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Eddie

You so right. It makes me wonder why when people become chemists that safety is not their number one goal. We chemists play with some pretty nasty stuff that can kill a lot of people quickly under the right circumstances. Every chemist should know deep down inside that they can become very bad people quickly if things get out of hand. Err on the side of caution is my motto.

Unlike universities and colleges, the K-12 have what is known as the "Standards of Learning". When teachers start to go outside those Standards to teach subject material that although maybe exciting but not age nor classroom nor liability appropriate makes me wonder what some people think. When you have potentially dangerous materials like that at age groups that haven't the cognitive abilities to process the dangers involved with using those materials, I begin to wonder why our universities and colleges are not teaching the right perspective about the hazards involved in the work they are about to embark on with the credentials these universities and colleges are granting to those individuals.

Perhaps, the universities and colleges need to have their own "Standards of Learning" to address this seemingly widespread misunderstanding in age appropriate demonstrations.

Richard Van Doren

Quality Assurance Manager

Metropolitan Soultions

423 Pacific Ave., Ste. 101

Bremerton, WA 98337

360-799-5699

Email: rvandoren**At_Symbol_Here**metrosolutionusa..com

Web: www.metrosolutionsusa.com

Eddie

You so right. It makes me wonder why when people become chemists that safety is not their number one goal. We chemists play with some pretty nasty stuff that can kill a lot of people quickly under the right circumstances. Every chemist should know deep down inside that they can become very bad people quickly if things get out of hand. Err on the side of caution is my motto.

Unlike universities and colleges, the K-12 have what is known as the "Standards of Learning". When teachers start to go outside those Standards to teach subject material that although maybe exciting but not age nor classroom nor liability appropriate makes me wonder what some people think. When you have potentially dangerous materials like that at age groups that haven't the cognitive abilities to process the dangers involved with using those materials, I begin to wonder why our universities and colleges are not teaching the right perspective about the hazards involved in the work they are about to embark on with the credentials these universities and colleges are granting to those individuals.

Perhaps, the universities and colleges need to have their own "Standards of Learning" to address this seemingly widespread misunderstanding in age appropriate demonstrations.