Australia's Science Forum

If it is for an IA I would not be giving them any until they provide a risk assessment on the prac. I would then offer an alternative. If the teacher insisted (mine wouldn't as they are overly cautious in some ways) I would tell them that they would need to handle the chemical whenever the student n...

Which prac is it? We do IB chem here and I have never used solid sodium chromate. If it is a prescribed IB prac I may be able to offer an alternative.

It it is brought up to the WHS committee then it should be documented as an action item and then something will have to be done about it.

Yes sometimes you have to make it about the money. I have had to in the past, mention the individual penalties and the schools penalty for not complying to the Act. Does your school have a compliance officer? You could bring your concerns up with them and casually mention you are concerned that teac...

No, you are not liable. Document that you have asked them to do a RA and do a RA on your preparation of the prac and that will discharge your duty under the WHS act. Do you use a RA program? Many on here use RiskAssess. It is quick and easy for the teachers to do and allows them to put multiple date...

Basically you fill the whole system with water. There must be no air bubbles in the system at all. You take a cutting of a leafy plant (large, non waxy, non furry leaves are the best) and cut it and place it through the bung all whilst the tip is underwater. Then you place the bung in the system. Yo...

It's a potometer. It is used to measure water uptake in plants (transpiration/photosynthesis rates). We do the prac in senior bio, IB bio and environmental science.

We have a set of 10 lab coats, they are used for our senior chem classes (if they remember to order them). Everyone else just does pracs in their school uniform... Wow! Wearing lab coats is not only getting them into good practise for if they work in a lab environment, but a basic WHS issue imo. Th...

What would you do if you disagree with a manufacturers SDS? There is a cleaning product used/stored on site by our contract cleaners. The SDS states that it is non hazardous. Now I know that concentration is everything, but it has 40-80% aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent which are hazardous, some extrem...

We have lab coats. They get stored in a purpose made deep "draw", not hung. We get them laundered at least twice a year at the industrial laundry the school uses for other laundry needs. I would be hesitant to use aprons due to no arm protection.

I've worked in catholic and independant schools. Similar to Anastasia, I have an spreadsheet with all stock chemicals (I do not include diluted/made up chemicals) . I include chem name, manufacturer, hazard codes, DG class, storage location, volume and a link to the sds (if I'm not using a chemwatch...

We had one of those. It was brought from on of the science supply companies...haines from memory. Worked really well.

Matches but we do have a limited number of BBQ type lighters. I agree with Merilyn, I think it is up there in life skills to be able to light a fire properly. However there are a number of students entering high school who have no idea how. I have also yet to meet a student who didn't overcome their...

I periodically push mine as I walk past. I should really make up a schedule for this type of stuff. Actually I need to make up a schedule for yearly maintenance to be done over the summer break. That way it will stop my procrastination over that time.

We made up a grid sheet with chem names across the top and down the side (so you can colour the appropriate square for the appropriate light or dark precipitate) and laminated them. They get used every year with the precipitates either wiped off or rinsed down the drain (they are all attached to che...

I still have solid chemicals from the Griffin and George company which started trading in the 1840's. Not sure when they finished, but being the only quaker school in Australia we were/are gifted with lots equipment etc from UK and US quakers coming to Australia.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think of TAFE, will give them a call. Interesting smeee. I am in an independent school but our DOE have very little in the way of regulations around science/chemicals. They have some banned chemicals and pracs and that's about it. The independent and Catholic sector ...

A little OT, but does any of your schools have a spray paint area/booth and if so do they have a safety document SOP for it? It is way out of my expertise area and I need to review our schools SOP.

I've been through lab design 3 times, coming in at various stages. There are lots of things I would do differently. Message me if you have specific questions. Design really depends on which graders/types of students/teachers are using it. If they are used as classrooms as well as prac spaces, then w...

Thanks all. It is more for the non science departments who use hazardous chemicals. DesTech has some real issues with some of the stuff they use and find it an uphill battle to make sure everyone is on the same page. The idea of a document listing hazards and ways to reduce the risk sounds like the ...