Recognition of laboratory safety and health problems has crystallized
since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. This Act
requires that certain precautions be observed to protect the safety and health
of employees on the job. The employee designation includes all teachers
employed by private and public school systems in States that have occupational
safety and health plans accepted by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). OSHA rules and
regulations are provided to protect the employees and the facilities.
The importance of laboratory safety has been recognized for many years in
industry. However, educational institutions have been slower to adopt such
safety practices and programs. A science program has certain potential dangers.
Yet, with careful planning, most dangers can be avoided in an activity-oriented
science program. It is essential for all involved in the science instruction
program to develop a positive approach to a safe and healthful environment in
the laboratory. Safety and the enforcement of safety regulations and laws in
the science classroom and laboratory are the responsibility of the principal,
teacher, and student—each assuming his/her share. Safety and health should be
an integral part of the planning, preparation, and implementation of any
science program.
The Importance of Safety
Safety and health considerations are as important as any other materials
taught in high school science curricula. Occupational injury data from industry
studies indicate that the injury rate is highest during the initial period of
employment and decreases with experience. Similarly, in a high school
laboratory setting where students experience new activities, the likelihood of
incidents, injury, and damage is high. Therefore, it is essential that the
students are taught what can go wrong, how to prevent such events from
occurring, and what to do in case of an emergency.
Teacher’s / Instructor’s
Viewpoint
Teachers have an obligation to instruct their students in the basic
safety practices required in science laboratories. They also have an obligation
to instruct them in the basic principles of health hazards that are found in
most middle and secondary school science laboratories. Instructors must provide
safety information and training to the students for every stage of experiment
planning and be there to observe, supervise, instruct, and correct during the
experimentation. Teachers play the most important role in insuring a safe and
healthful learning environ ment for the students. The ideal time to impress on
students’ minds the need for caution and preparation is before and while they
are working with chemicals in science laboratories.
Student’s Viewpoint
Students develop attitudes towards safety and acquire habits of assessing
hazards and risks when they are young. Students come from diverse backgrounds and
have various levels of preparation. Most of them have no previous hands on training
in handling chemicals or equipment; others may come well prepared to assume
personal responsibility for risk assessment and safety planning in their experiments.
The school science laboratory provides an opportunity to instill good attitudes
and habits by allowing students to observe and select appropriate practices and
perform laboratory operations safely. Safety and health training lays the
foundation for acquiring these skills. The students should think through implications
and risks of experiments that they observe or conduct in order to learn that
safe procedures are part of the way science must be done.
Student motivation in any area of education is a critical factor in the
learning process. Emphasizing the importance of safety and health considerations
by devoting substantial class time to these areas should help. The current
popular preoccupation with matters of industrial safety and health may also
serve as motivation. Students may fnd a discussion of toxicology interesting,
informative, and benefcial. The possibilities for working this material into
the science curriculum are innumerable and limited only by the imagination of
the teacher.
School’s Viewpoint
Support for laboratory safety programs is the responsibility of school
system administrators. School system administrators should appreciate the need
for establishing safety and health instruction as a fundamental part of a
science curriculum and should operate their schools in as safe a manner as
possible. No Federal law requires safety and health programs to protect
students in schools.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 requires employers to
provide safety and health protection for teachers and other school system
employees. Some States (North Carolina, for example) require school systems to
abide by State regulations, which are similar to the OSHA Laboratory Standard
(29 CFR 1910.1450). All safety programs must actively involve the school
administrators, supervisors, teachers, and students, and all have the responsibility
for safety and health of every other person in the laboratory and school.
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