1. New Approach for Teaching
Laboratory Safety:
Four-Year Text for
Undergraduate Chemistry
Robert H. Hill, Jr., Capt., U.S. Public Health Service (Retired),
Atlanta, GA
David C. Finster, Professor, Wittenberg University,
Springfield, OH

2. The Burning Sliver
 Graduate student doing
organic synthesis
 Drying solvent by pressing Na
through die to make wire
 Cutting Na block, tiny sliver
from cutting fell from knife
 Landed on bare arm burning
small cylindrical hole within
seconds Sodium metal
[Wikipedia Jan 31, 2010]

3. Passion for Laboratory Safety
 Incidents
 Fires, runaway reactions, explosions
 Chemical exposures, burns, cuts
 Chemical spills
 Experience
 The Great Teacher
 Tough way to learn safety
 Better approach
 Learning how to be safe
 Taking steps to prevent incidents Kansas State U, 1899, Chemistry Lab
Burned down 1901
 Preparing for emergencies

4. Chemical Enterprise Has
Problem with Safety
 Many chemists
 Inadequate knowledge of safety; poor safety
habits; negative/ambivalent attitude toward safety
 Lack of safety education or learning/retention as a
student?
 Incidents with chemicals frequently happen
as result of unrecognized or uncontrolled
hazards
 Public weary of chemists, chemical enterprise
 Don’t trust us when we say everything is okay

5. Current Laboratory Safety in
Undergraduate Chemistry (?)
 General/organic chemistry
 Safety rules, basic PPE, safety
equipment, lab waste, specific
hazards in some lab texts
 Academic effort in laboratory
safety education
 Inadequate, neglected part of
chemistry educational process
 Not principle-based approach
 Non-continuous
 Does not build strong safety culture

6. Need More Laboratory Safety
Education
 Yes, it’s a big problem!
 Safety professionals; industry
managers; students; some educators
 Producing new chemists without safety
skills; inadequate safety education;
safety culture weak or missing
 No, present practice okay!
 Many educators
 No room in curriculum; not a priority;
not my job; not interested; not really
part of chemistry; inadequate
information to teach

7. Current Resources for
Laboratory Safety
 Reference – very good; not textbooks
 Prudent Practices (NRC, June 2010, NAP)
 Handbook of Chemical Health and Safety
(RJ Alaimo, Ed, 2001, Oxford)
 Bretherick’s Handbook of Reactive
Chemical Hazards, 7th Edition (PG Urben,
Ed, 2007, Elsevier)
 Short booklets – very good; more rule-
based; not designed for long-term use.
 Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories
(ACS CCS, 2007, ACS)
 Working Safely with Chemicals in the
Laboratory (CE Gorman, Ed, 1997, Genium)

8. Incorporating Laboratory
Safety in Chemistry Curricula
 Laboratory safety – essential &
integral part of all chemistry
 Curricula should reflect
importance of laboratory and
chemical safety
 Resources for teaching
laboratory safety inadequate
 New approach to incorporate
safety into chemistry curricula –
a new teaching resource

9. Goal: Teaching Laboratory Safety
in Undergraduate Chemistry
 Chemists, lab workers need:
 Fundamental knowledge of safety
 Positive attitude, strong safety ethic
 Strong safety culture
 Learning fundamental knowledge
of safety requires
 Principle-based approach to teaching
safety and related chemistry
 Long-term reinforcement of safety
 Presentation in all lab courses and
sessions

10. Building A Strong Safety
Culture
 Continuous, long-term
reinforcement of safety
 Builds safety knowledge and
safety culture
 Leadership dedicated to safety
 Leads by example
 Teaches safety “Example is the not the main
 Practices safety thing in influencing others. It is
the only thing.”
 Demands others follow
Albert Schweitzer

11. Incorporating Laboratory
Safety in Chemistry Curricula
 Textbook for undergraduates
 Covers fundamental laboratory safety
 Provides principle-based approach
 Simple and easy to implement
 Pre-lab assignments
 On-line quizzing
 Appropriate for introductory,
intermediate, and advanced/research
chemistry students

12. Designed for Continuous
Reinforcement of Safety
 Pre-lab assignments: 70 sections in 8
chapters used over 4 years of study
 Not designed as single course
 Designed to build strong safety culture
 Layered approach based on chemical
knowledge of the audience
 Introductory (22 sections)
 Intermediate (19 sections)
 Advanced (39 sections)

13. Designed for Continuous
Reinforcement of Safety
 Some topics, subjects addressed 2-3 times at
different levels, appropriate to the audience
 Corrosives:
 5.1.1 Corrosive Hazards in Introductory Chemistry
 5.2.1 Corrosives in Advanced Laboratories
 Green Chemistry:
 1.1.2 What is Green Chemistry
 1.2.1 Green Chemistry in Organic Chemistry
 1.3.4 Green Chemistry – The Big Picture

14. Designed for Principle-based
Approach
 Four Principles of Safety
 RAMP for safety
 Recognize hazards
 Assess the risks of hazards
 Minimize the risks of hazards
 Prepare for emergencies

15. Laboratory Safety for
Chemistry Students
 Principles, Ethics, Practices
 8 Sections in 1 Chapter
 Recognizing Hazards
 29 Sections in 3 Chapters
 Assessing Risks of Hazards
 6 Sections in 1 Chapter
 Minimizing Risks of Hazards
 21 Sections in 2 Chapters
 Preparing for Emergencies
 6 Sections in 1 Chapter

16. Laboratory Safety for
Chemistry Students
 All 70 Sections
 Preview, Quote,
Incident, Text, Questions
 Well referenced – many
website URLs
 Many Sections
 Chemical Connections,
and/or Special Topics

17. Laboratory Safety for
Chemistry Students
 Sample Incident
 Sulfuric Acid Spill Four 2.5 L bottles of sulfuric acid were
being carried down the hall by students. As one student
turned to the other, the bottles banged together and broke.
Both students fell on the slippery acid, and another bottle
broke. Another person came to help and also slipped and
fell. All three suffered serious burns from the sulfuric acid
and cuts from the broken glass.
What lessons can be learned from this incident?
 Students must think about lessons learned
 Why did this happen?
 How could it have been prevented?

18. Laboratory Safety for
Chemistry Students
 Chemical Connections - examples
 Why does adding a concentrated
strong acid to water cause a violent
reaction?
 Using bond energies to understand
Heats of Reaction
 Inhibiting peroxide formation
 Radioactive decay, A first-order
reaction
 Oxygen concentrations in a laboratory
with a spilled cryogen

19. Laboratory Safety for
Chemistry Students
 Special Topics – examples
 Chemical analysis of human specimens
 Radon - A significant public health concern
 Our understanding of a poison – A little on
the cloudy side
 A case study in risk management - The
tragedy at Bhopal, India
 Laser pointers

20. Designed for Easy
Implementation
 Pre-lab assignments
 70 Sections
 Selected for each lab session to reflect
needed safety information
 Available electronically – useful for
Introductory students
 Quizzes using on-line system

21. Laboratory Safety for
Chemistry Students
 New textbook on laboratory
safety
 Unique 4-year textbook for all
students
 New approach incorporates
laboratory safety into
curricula
 Treats laboratory safety as a
chemistry discipline
 Provides easy way to teach
laboratory safety to students,
build safety skills in new
chemists

22. Impact of Teaching
Laboratory Safety
 Teaches future chemists to
operate on safety principles
 Continuous teaching builds strong
safety culture, safety ethic
 Integrating safety into work prevents
incidents, injuries
 Learning safety saves scientists
from injury or worse
 Won’t know when this happens
 Remember when scientists make
great discoveries, it could be
because we taught them safety