I would think it's a safe bet that not one secondary school educator (including education management) has ever read NFPA 45 (the current edition, the one with the demonstration requirements); understand "Authority having jurisdiction" and probably few have ever heard of the National Fire Protection Association.

Then there's the secondary issue in local areas where NFPA standards are not regulatorily enforced. NFPA standards are just that - standards; not regulation. They can (and have been) adopted by various jurisdictions as regulations, but there are areas where they have not been also.

The root cause of the problem cannot be solved by the Society but the Society, and particularly AACT, can assist in solving it. The root cause of the problem is that, in general, secondary educators are not chemists (or "chemistry majors"); they are education majors with some science background. Chemical safety is learned in the teaching laboratory and when one does not have extensive laboratory experience, they do not gather the knowledge and skills necessary to perform safely.

"People change when the pain of change is less than the pain of staying the same." It's been painful enough for individuals to act and begin to affect change; however, it is not been painful enough for the Society or AACT get involved at an "in the dirt" level. As organizations go, we're great about talking about a problem; less so about working to solve it.

Harry

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> On Behalf Of Richard Palluzi
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2019 7:59 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] [EXT] Re: [DCHAS-L] Letter to the National PTA regarding the rainbow flame demo