Right on, Mary Beth, It's not "trival" and requires full course that results in significant rewiring of cerebral synapses in the young students. Basic toxicology is needed in addition to the chemistry and physics of safety. That's why it should not be "added to individual courses" but be taught separately in a full course of its own by someone who has the sole objective of training in the basics of the various disciplines needed to read an SDS.
From: Samuella Sigmann <sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**APPSTATE.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Wed, Apr 11, 2018 9:59 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] "Read the SDS"
This is something that I have been thinking about for the last year
or so. Teaching students how to read an SDS is not a trivial task..
I do offer some exercises that instructors can use and some
competencies needed by students to read SDSs in a JCHAS article that
is out in press online right now. The article is tied to the
information special issue.
I really like the idea of doing a comparison exercise with the names
removed! Thanks for that idea, I will add this to my classes.
Sammye
This morning I looked up the SDS for NaCl and H2SO4. Looking
at the two of them side-by-side, I think even a novice could
clearly differentiate that sulfuric acid is more hazardous
than table salt based on the SDSs. If though the novice did
not have the SDSs to compare and you took the name off of
the SDS, I wonder how a novice would interpret the hazards
of table salt. For example, the SDS for NaCl that I am
looking for exposure guidelines states "This product does
not contain any hazardous materials with occupational
exposure limits established by the region specific regulatory
bodies," and then under Other International Regulations
states "Mexico Grade-Severe risk, Grade 4." How does a
novice interpret that? Do you teach your students the
limitations of regulatory-based exposure limits? Do you
teach them about Mexico Grades? Do you focus on the NFPA
diamond?
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