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print and digital resources places a significant onus on faculty and laboratory managers to develop de novo content, a particularly time- intensive burden if course- or grade-specific content is desired. As a result, programs often revert to traditional safety training methods that may be anachronistic, dull and not adaptable throughout the entire curriculum.
These programmatic impediments are self- perpetuating because students who receive minimal safety training and go on to professor- ships are likely to teach as they were taught and further engender safety training’s secondary status. To help college and university faculty and lab managers mitigate these challenges, Flinn Scientific has developed a number of print and digital resources.
The first is an online laboratory safety training course for freshman-level chemistry students. The course comprises short, modern videos highlighting important laboratory safety topics followed by an assessment to gauge students’ introductory safety knowledge. The course may be assigned for completion prior to the first laboratory session or may be completed in class. Faculty and lab managers can retain digital records of student completion and performance on a section or classroom basis.
Secondly, Flinn’s Safety in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum Notes are disseminated monthly via email and may be posted to a learning management site, such as Blackboard or Moodle, or distributed during lecture or lab. They are modular and meant to facilitate easy integration of laboratory safety train- ing throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Moreover, the Flinn Scientific website provides freely available videos and downloadable print media on laboratory safety. These resources mesh nicely with Flinn’s collection of general chemistry and pre-health chemistry laboratory experiments and demonstration kits, which include pre-lab safety instruction and disposal guidance.
Finally, the Flinn Scientific Catalog/ Reference Manual includes a comprehensive safety reference section that may be treated as primary source material. Articles provide teachable content targeting all of the American Chemical Society’s recommended laboratory safety skills. These safety reference articles may be used in concert with Flinn chemicals, which have labels that display proprietary storage, disposal, hazard and shelf life information, as foundational material to build a safety program or bolster an existing one.
Development of a robust safety program at the undergraduate level need not require a dramatic overhaul of existing curricula. The resources mentioned herein are designed to be adaptable. They may be integrated without much effort into current syllabi. Such program- matic additions coupled with earnest and frank promotion of a safety culture—by adminis- trators, department heads, full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, laboratory managers, safety officers and students—will produce alumni and alumna increasingly ready for postgraduate studies and employment.
The ability to work with students in the lab— allowing them to observe, question, engage and discover—is one of the most rewarding aspects of being on a college faculty. It is also poten- tially one of the most dangerous. The purpose this article is to provide a forum for faculty to review safety requirements and procedures, discuss their safety concerns and set goals to improve safety.
General Safety Responsibilities
Science instructors owe it to their students to care about anticipating dangers that are reasonably foreseeable and to take the neces- sary precautions to prevent accidents and protect students from harm.
The Safety Contract
The first step in creating a safe laboratory environment is to develop a safety contract that describes the rules of the laboratory. The safety contract is the foundation of any academic science safety program. Before a student ever sets foot in the lab, the safety contract should be discussed in class and then signed by the student. Incorporate safety into each class or laboratory exercise—begin every lab period, in particular, with a discussion of the procedures or chemicals used in the experiment and the general and special safety precautions that must be observed. Pre-lab assignments are another way to ensure that students are prepared for lab and understand safety requirements.
Proper Instruction
It is not sufficient to merely give students lab directions or procedures in the form of a hand- out or textbook reading assignment. Instructors should explain the nature of the equipment or chemicals that students will be using and how they are to perform tasks in the lab. Proper instruction also includes demonstrating new or unusual laboratory procedures and teaching students the safe way to handle chemicals, glass- ware and other equipment. Remember to record all safety instruction in your records. Being able to provide evidence of documented safety instruction will reduce your potential liability in the unlikely event of an accident.
Warning Students of Hazards
Instructors should specifically identify hazards and warn students about the possible dangers of working with chemicals or performing tasks in the lab. Students do not always understand the proper meaning of hazard warnings or safety precautions. Just as with any instruction, it is important to demonstrate the concepts and to assess student understanding of the safety concepts.
Maintaining a Safe Lab Environment
Administrators and faculty share a responsi- bility to maintain a safe lab environment for students. The institution must provide safety equipment that is appropriate for the hazards and maintain the equipment in proper working order. All equipment and glassware must be in good working order before it is used in the lab. Inspect equipment and remove any defective materials. Instruct students to check glassware regularly for cracks and chips.
Helping Students Meet Their Responsibilities
Students are required to follow all rules, guide- lines and instructions set by the department. Signing a safety contract signifies that students have read the contract, understand the rules and agree to abide by the safety requirements in the laboratory. Students have a responsibility to arrive prepared for the laboratory activity. Students must wear all the required personal protective equipment as instructed.
Safety in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum
Recent accidents have forced a renewed conversation about safety in academic chem- istry laboratories. The National Academy of Sciences and the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities are right now empha- sizing its importance. Both organizations encourage academic institutions to build strong safety cultures in which the promotion of safe laboratory practices is pervasive—done by undergraduates, graduate students, adjunct and full-time faculty, laboratory managers and administrators. Safety training of undergradu- ates is particularly critical because they will serve as future standard bearers in academic, industrial and government positions.
Perhaps in recognition of the undergrad- uate’s role in perpetuating a safety culture, the American Chemical Society in May 2015 revised its Guidelines and Evaluation Procedures for Bachelor’ s Degree Programs to urge undergraduate training in the follow- ing areas: responsible disposal techniques, compliance with safety regulations, proper use of PPE to minimize exposure to hazards, the use of safety data sheets and safety reference materials, the ability to recognize chemical and physical hazards in the laboratory and react appropriately, and an understanding of the categories of hazards associated with chemicals (health, physical and environmental).
In contrast to the increasingly vocal calls for safety training’s incorporation into the under- graduate chemistry curriculum, many schools have yet to undertake earnest curriculum reform owing to programmatic impediments. The first challenge is timing. Curricula are traditionally segregated into foundational areas—organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chem- istry and analytical chemistry—which require specific content knowledge obtained at different points in the degree program.
A second challenge, time, often relegates laboratory safety training to a subjugated posi- tion in undergraduate chemistry curricula (so as not to detract from core material) and restricts its teaching to standard and easily delivered caveats, such as “never pipet by mouth” and “wear proper PPE.” These warnings must be part of any safety program, but they can be woven into a richer chemical context in which students might learn why nitrile gloves are not sufficient to prevent exposure to certain chemi- cals or why certain chemicals should not be mixed in waste streams or even stored together.
The third challenge, lack of resources, exacer- bates the other two. A dearth of easily integrated