Safety First

"And remember, safety first!" Miss Jenny Sodor Construction Co.  Thomas and Friends

Welcome to the obligatory science class topic on safety or how not to lose your eye, or in this case a student's eye get sued and have to test your liability shield of your union and district.  I joke, but to me, safety has been there hand in hand since I started back in the mid-90s whether being the goggle-guy, helping with waste disposal, or serving professionally as the contact person for EHS to do audits on things like fume hoods (*cough cough Neal*), chemical inventory, biohazardous wastes, or even radioactive material pick up and disposal.  At any one point in my career I probably was responsible for more EPA, DOT, and DOE regulations than anyone possibly realized.  But today it is about the school and what is done.

First let's talk about general safety.  The school is locked.  You can't get in except through a buzzer at the front door.  You must sign in at the office (well you don't, but they'll run after you if you skip that step).  Backpacks are banned given the reason of being a fire hazards.  Student traffic in the halls is kept to a minimum.  Attendance is taken so the location of students is known.  

Room Safety Features

The room is divided in half.  The cabinets are all locked.  The prep room is where the actual chemicals are stored long term. There really isn't anything beyond some hydrochloric acid in there, and that is diluted (~3M?) and that is taken from the upstairs 11th grade chemistry class.  Most everything is household or kitchen items.  Inventory is informal.  Orders/MSDS are received as needed.  There is a master gas control in the prep room and another emergency gas shut off iin the front "teacher"s bench.  Goggles are required when chemicals are in use in the back half of the room (law).  Most everything is flushed down the drain due to very dilute.  

There are three doors (2 to the hallway, 1 to the preproom) if needed for escape.  There is a fume hood (about where the camera is located for the picture above).  There is also a safety shower and 2 eye wash stations on the first bench on the left and right sides.