From: K Roy <safesci**At_Symbol_Here**sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] [EXT] Re: [DCHAS-L] Teacher resigns after lighting student's hands on fire in science experiment
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2022 18:44:42 +0000
Reply-To: K Roy <safesci**At_Symbol_Here**SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Message-ID: 489776179.294018.1649443482641**At_Symbol_Here**mail.yahoo.com
In-Reply-To


Marta - You are spot on!  I have had a number of expert witness consultant cases over the past few years involving the "rainbow" demo with the teacher using methanol.  No PPE being used with students up close to the demo table.  There are a number of better professional safety practices as you noted by ACS, NSTA, etc. available.  Part of the problem is lack of appropriate administrative supervision of science teachers, and the employer failing to provide safety training for science teachers.  In addition, some science teachers are failing to reach out and do a potential safety hazard analysis, resulting risk assessment and taking appropriate safety action BEFORE conducting the demo.  The result is students and sometimes teachers getting seriously injured - many lifelong issues.  Many teachers and administrators have improved on this, but we still obviously have a way to go!  Sad but true!

Thanks for sharing!

Dr. Ken

Kenneth R. Roy, Ph.D.
Chief Safety Compliance Adviser
National Science Teaching Association (NSTA);
Safety Compliance Officer
National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA);
Safety Committee Member
International Council of Associations for Science Education (ICASE);
Director of Environmental Health & Chemical Safety,
Glastonbury Public Schools (CT);
General Manager / Senior Safety Adviser
National Safety Consultants, LLC
34 Tallwood Drive
Vernon, CT 06066
USA
Safesci**At_Symbol_Here**sbcglobal.net



On Friday, April 8, 2022, 11:46:33 AM EDT, Gmurczyk, Marta <m_gmurczyk**At_Symbol_Here**acs.org> wrote:


Dear All

It is very unfortunate to hear about yet another accident related to using open flame with flammable liquids. ACS Safety Communities, AACT, CSB and NSTA  collaborated  together to provide teachers with resources that would help with safer demonstrations and activities in the classroom. These resources can be found at

https://institute.acs.org/lab-safety/education-and-training/high-school-labs.html

Please help to promote these resources to the teachers.

 

Marta

 

 

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Neal Langerman
Sent: Friday, April 8, 2022 11:00 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [EXT] Re: [DCHAS-L] Teacher resigns after lighting student's hands on fire in science experiment

 

[Actual Sender is owner-dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**princeton.edu]

 

On Fri, Apr 8, 2022, 06:57 Info <info**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com> wrote:

Can someone find the videos on social media? I have no social media presence or savvy. Thanks.

 

The recent lull has now been broken=E2=80=A6 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/04/07/texas-teacher-sets-students-hands-fire/9498190002/ 

 

A Texas middle school teacher has resigned after putting hand sanitizer on a student's hands then lighting them on fire, leaving the student with third degree burns. 

A 37-year-old teacher at Granbury Middle School was conducting a science experiment last week when she put hand sanitizer on the hands of a 12-year-old student and lit them on fire, according to a statement from the Granbury Police Department.

The experiment was conducted with other students without incident, but the 12-year-old suffered third degree burns on his hands. 

"The Granbury Police Department responded to Granbury Middle School for a report of a student who had been burned on campus," the statement said.

The Granbury Independent School District, in a tweet posted Tuesday, said the teacher resigned and is no longer an employee of the district.

 

The Granbury PD said the incident is under investigation and "will be submitted to the District Attorney's Office for review."

Additional reports. 

 

 

It looks like every class that day had a group of students that volunteer to do it," Grizzard told NBC affiliate KXAS. "There was also another classroom that was doing the same thing where there was no incident.

 

 

 

Lt. Grizzard says investigators have interviewed several students and are reviewing a possible video of the incident circulating on social media.

"My first thought was that it definitely sounded irresponsible," he said. "But you know, again, whether it's criminal or not is not up to us to decide. That's going to be the DA's office that decides that."

FOX 4 reached out to the Hood County DA's Office, but it declined to comment on a pending investigation.

Lt. Grizzard says the teacher could be charged with injury to a child. But he says the DA could also decide to send the case to a grand jury for review.

 

 

The student's parents took to Facebook to share some visuals of the horrifying incident. The father also informed readers that his son received due treatment and had been discharged. 

Online, many parents were taking sides - while some defended the teacher, many others called the experiment "inexcusable". An angry parent said that "putting a flammable substance on bare hands and igniting it is not a science experiment. It's just stupid." Another said that "there's absolutely NO excuse for putting a child in danger like that!!"

 

Some sources told CBS that the incident happened after a class finished a test early and the teacher asked students if they wanted to see something "cool".

Photos and videos posted online show the blisters from serious burns the student suffered. A video shows the student quickly putting out a fire on his hands, which was covered in sanitizer. 

Dr. Anthony Pizon, chief of medical toxicology at UPMC in Pittsburgh, said, "Hand sanitizers with high concentrations of ethanol and hydroxypropyl are flammable. Any amount of hand sanitizer can light on fire. The volume controls how rapidly the flame will spread. If you have a little bit on your hands, a little bit will light on fire

 

Looks like if the district took half as much effort at reviewing laboratory safety as they did their library, this wouldn't have happened:  https://cjtackett.medium.com/granbury-isd-is-reviewing-books-a0579c36588e 

 

Rob Toreki

 

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