I can share an incident from my own research laboratory which highlights an issue for hearing impaired researchers working with gasses - they cannot hear flowing gas.
My student pressurized a reactor with carbon monoxide and after closing the reactor valve he pulled off the fill hose and let it hang next to the large tank secured outside the hood. He failed to close the valve on the carbon monoxide tank, which should have been done before removing the fill hose. I walked into the lab sometime later and while speaking with the student said "Mike, what's that hissing noise?" Of course he replied "What noise?" I immediately looked around and saw that the hose on the tank regulator was blowing carbon monoxide into the lab, so I quickly closed the tank valve and we immediately left the lab.
There were multiple issues here, but the student's hearing impairment prevented him from hearing the flowing gas.
Craig
Craig A. Merlic
Professor of Chemistry, UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Executive Director , UC Center for Laboratory Safety
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569
Voice: 310-825-5466
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> on behalf of Sheila Kennedy <s1kennedy**At_Symbol_Here**COX.NET>
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Date: Sunday, September 22, 2019 at 12:03 PM
To: <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Deaf/Hearing Impaired Chemistry Instructor question
And, more recently, see Accessibility in the laboratory, Ellen Sweet, Wendy Strobel Gower, & Carl Heltzel (eds), ACS symposium Series 1272.
(ISBN: 978084123276)
Sheila
_________________________________
Sheila Kennedy, C.H.O.
Safety Coordinator RETIRED 4/2019
UCSD Chemistry & Biochemistry | Teaching Laboratories
s1kennedy**At_Symbol_Here**ucsd.edu | http://www-chem.ucsd.edu
_________________________________
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> On Behalf Of Pauline Serrano
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2019 10:14 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Deaf/Hearing Impaired Chemistry Instructor question
Hi
Here is the link for the American Chemical Society's Chemists with Disabilities; with a lot of great resources. Hope this helps!
Pauline
On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 12:19 PM Melinda Box <melinda.box**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
I am checking in to see if any of you all might be willing to share experiences and/or policies and precedents for a deaf or hearing impaired teaching assistant working in Chemistry lab instruction.
Any and all contributions will be so appreciated,
Thanks,
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post