Australia's Science Forum

Does anyone have experience using the OnGuard Safety training software or anything else similar? Our school is looking at investing in this but would like to have other people's opinions first. It has modules for every area in the school which students work through before being able to use equipment...

I checked with our librarian and issuing textbooks through the library is not an option at the moment. So it is back to just writing lists and the teachers ignoring them as usual!
kath

Looks beautiful! Would love to have a tank here but considering we never seem to be able to keep fish alive at home, I can't see I'd have much chance here at work!
kathryn

I am apparently responsible for text book distribution in our school, but I have to confess it is one area which drives me nuts. :crazy: Despite piling all books in numerical order (with Cores bks 3&4 in their pairs), and even when I have printed out class lists with students names and book numb...

Thanks for your kind comments - they are lovely aren't they :D :D Definately speak to Rosalie if you are wanting more info on how to do it, she is the pro, I'm an amateur. The little ones were easier than I expected, the seahorse was more chanllanging. Buffing them up so they look nice takes a lot o...

I find it slow and I have pretty much given up on using the manifest facility.

That's a tricky one and no doubt we all have the same experience. I guess as long as an RA has been done. The thing with the handgel - I presume although it is to have a green dot, that it is ok for it to be used on the young kids as long as the teacher is controlling it. I presume it would be the s...

After such a fantastic workshop at last years St Mary's conference, I was asked to try embedding a seadragon which a student found on the beach while on an excursion. After much experimenting with smaller specimens, I finally got the courage to try the sea horse. First attempt was a disaster as I ha...

I have been told every chemical in the school in classrooms has to be colour coded. Even paints in the Art department which are non-toxic and suitable for all age groups have to have a blue sticker on every bottle - this was told to me at registration last term. Chemicals in staffrooms, or used by c...

It's ME AGAIN!!!! :w00t: I've just done the annual register for the Junior school. Every teacher has on their desk a bottle of handgel - that antibacterial stuff that you don't need water with. It contains 66% ethanol according to its MSDS. Ethanol should be coded green 7-12. So should I be classify...

Ok I'm bringing this to the front of the queue again!!! I know some of you other labbies are responsible for all the chemicals throughout the school, so what do you do in instances like this? Do the teachers write RA's to cover themselves for products which are classified for older Yr groups or are ...

They're great! Thanks for sharing!
kathryn

Just faxed my application

We are an Independent School so will not be required to register with DET but also I cannot access further infomation from them. Also my HOS, and the rest of the school , depend on my "expertise" (haha :cheesy: ) to tell them what they are and are not allowed to use. In the CSIS manual, so...

Hi everyone I'm once again looking for advice. The TAS dept use solvents and laquers for their woodworking projects. They have gone to products which claim to be less toxic than what they were using previously as they want Yrs 7-12 to be able to use these things. However it still contains toluene an...

here is an example... SELLEYS POLYGLAZE WASH AND WAX Supplier's MSDS says "not classified as hazardous according to criteria of Safe Work Australia; NONHAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE." Chemwatch says "HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE. NON-DANGEROUS GOODS. According to NOHSC Criteria, and ADG Code." I ha...

My advice... don't go for the cheapest brand..... see my earlier post where I had carefully worked out how many of each size we should get only to have then all come back basically the same size with only a small difference in length (the medium was bigger than the large!). We sent them back and bou...

Hi Everyone When doing your hazardous materials register, do you go by the manufacturer's MSDS or by Chemwatch? I find that many substances are listed as non-hazardous on the manufacturer's MSDS but are classified hazardous (but with no diamonds) by Chemwatch. In fact chemwatch seems to classify jus...

What do you mean you've used Golden Syrup?? To remove the eggshell? We had 2 eggs in 1M HCL but it didn't work very well, which is why I put the question up. I've now got some in vinegar - hope that works better. Yes they are for the osmosis experiment.
Kath

I have the manufacturer's MSDS but it is not very helpful in determining the user group.
kathryn