Australia's Science Forum

We don't but I can only imagine it is an accident waiting to happen. I would think they would be crazy to operate it without a SOP in place. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a code of practice available from your safework/workcover type people in your state. Maybe have a look there and pass the i...

Crazy. Have the staff been trained in doing their own risk assessments? Will these be any better than the Riaskassess version, in regard to the level of risk? If they think they can do it better, by all means let them at it. All you can do is make comments if risk assessments are not being done. I w...

The advice I received at Phillip Crisp's Lab Safety course was to have the SDS for hazardous substances that are bought in, not needed for solutions you make yourself.

Hi macca
We've been given some info from AIS which is basically the same information you have been reading from CASA. The teacher should also be doing a risk assessment each time it is used to show that they have gone through the routine checks and they are complying with CASA's guidelines.

Two schools of thought on this - not printing saves paper and Riskassess have multiple back up copies of our files so a copy is being kept. Riskassess also recommend backing up at your school as well. When I download the pdf file, I save it to a folder of RAs and will save this folder to the cloud s...

You are correct - the law states that all employees using a hazardous chemical must have access to the current SDS. How your employer defines "access" varies. An electronic copy is fine as long as it is always accessible - what happens in the event of a black out, computer failure, interne...

It talks about collaborating - that doesn't mean doing it for someone else - it means talking together to get a few different view points. Having said that, though, I would NEVER write a RA for a teacher. It is their responsibility.

You can't rush these things. How long ago did I send that to you?

At the TPL day I attended recently, at which Alan was a presenter, he basically said do your stocktake however you wish, on chemwatch, on a spread sheet, with pen and paper, there are no hard and fast rules according to him! Mine is done on chemwatch, I'm not game to check yet, I'll deal with that ...

Soozle - you have learnt that Chemwatch isn't always easy. I usually search on-line for the SDS (Chemsupply has an excellent site for their SDSs). I know some schools are told to use Chemwatch but some issues are that Safework NSW (formally Workcover) state that the SDS must be from the manufacturer...

Not using it either - have a spreadsheet based list instead. I can easily manipulate it to make it simpler to read, whilst still retaining other information just hidden away. What I love is I get to name the chemicals the way that I want them named, instead of some having the brand name included and...

No, Macca - that's the whole year Don't mean to gloat

Oh yuk! Dare I share? 109 pracs - this year. But, I am also the TAS assistant, visual arts and the new addition - WHS.
Next year will be busier though, so am making use of the time to order equipment, get systems in place etc.

Thanks for sharing that Macca. I had missed reading the "news". Interesting to see how many pracs have been ordered all year.

Riskassess here, too. It also has a schedule page where you see what is ordered each day. The labelling function is worth the subscription fee, alone. Not a problem here, but at my last school the date and time "stamping" was a wonderful tool! You can get a one month free trial - just go t...

melsid wrote: Bugger, that means I can't make it since we fly out to NZ on the 26th.

Just cancel the holiday

Hi Macca I stayed at the Y Hotel on Hyde Park. Short walk from the conference. Got a single room a couple of years ago for a tad under $100, and I got a free cooked breakfast! The room was compact, but had windows on one wall which opened it up. I'm pretty claustrophobic and didn't have a problem. T...

Thanks Margaret! I'm working on my selection now. Hopefully have an email off to the relevant person soon

Hi Linotas I have never done individual risk assessments on chemicals in my school job, only relying on RAs for pracs (or prep room procedures, such as making solutions). However, in the nursery industry I did do these. A few years ago now, but I remember basing them mostly on the SDS. So ended up b...

That is appalling, especially if you are told that is what you HAVE to follow! There have been two major changes to the WHS acts in that time and dozens of changes to the safety rating of chemicals. They really are behind the game.