Australia's Science Forum

Mini SDS are not recognised by Safework as being a SDS, so they aren't much good on their own. You still need to have the correct SDS. Apart from a mini SDS not having all the required information, they are produced (by Chemwatch) a third party. The SDS must be provided by the manufacturer or suppli...

We've given up on brains, too (like a few people around here :cheesy: ). Last lots were in pieces, not whole. Teachers decided that the brain dissection is not worth the cost. However, things like hearts and eyes certainly have a lot of value especially for seniors. I've been on leave for five month...

Not sure of the time frame, but you would be correct. I think it aligns with freight companies which don't need to keep a register of everything that moves through their depot. I imagine that job if they did!!

Try soaking them. If it is too stuck I don't bother. The cost of new ones isn't worth the effort

Consumer products are domestic products that are purchased in small quantities from say, a supermarket or hardware store. They do not need to be added to a register even if they are hazardous. Once you start buying these products in bulk e.g. by the carton, they do need to be added to your register.

I have an ample chem store so my droppers are stored in there. In Unitrays and with the DG class of the solid/concentrate.
I'm not sure how you got to Minecraft!

I think they just copy previous experiments without thinking too much about what they need. Limit supply and they'll adapt. Probably, my first port of call would be to let the teachers know you are streamlining. Most of them won't say anything so you can go ahead and wait for the tears later

Regarding the concentrations of acids, we generally have 0.1M and 1M in droppers. I do also have 2M HCl in droppers. A coincidence that I read this now as I've just emailed a teacher who wanted 0.5M solutions (at short notice) telling him he could have 0.1M and in future if he wanted 0.5M I would or...

I just buy the cheaper ones from SSA, they work fine. I always thought the wadding would get contaminated and be difficult to clean. I usually swap out the things that "eat" the rubber teat - most of the nitrates (silver nitrate is fine), iodine, nitric acid (not that anyone uses that anym...

Oh no! Just for the sake of doing it. Nup - as Shaz said, they will come up with all sorts of weird things and if you give an inch they'll take a mile. If you buy this, you'll find after 12 months you'll have a chem store full of useless stuff. It is surprising, as most teachers struggle to get thro...

I think I may have bought something from Sigma years ago. I wouldn't have a problem buying from them, I'd have more of a problem spending a lot of money on something that will spend the next ten years on a shelf until you do a chemical clean up! New teachers can be difficult to work with. If you use...

Sometimes the teachers are just passing on what the students have asked for. Sometimes the students have just got some weird experiment off Google that may or may not work. The kids just don't put any thought into it. The teacher's attitude of "it's not crucial" makes me think this is what...

I'd be interested, too. How long do they last on glass? How easy is it to remove? I agree - students would be less likely to write on desks etc with them.

I wouldn't worry. Litmus itself is not hazardous, so legally, we are not required to have a SDS for it. We only need SDSs for hazardous chemicals.
I certainly wouldn't worry about finding an SDS for litmus paper.

Check your legislation but I think it is very similar to NSW. Staff that handle, use or store any hazardous chemicals must have access to a SDS. You have to consider that there may be staff without convenient access to a computer e.g. your maintenance team. Also consider if there is a power or inter...

I was here for the start of it (2011 - I'm RosalieM on page 1) but not the 2015/2016 discussion. I've printed out the document linked from November 2015 which looks kind of official and put it with the rocks to deal with later! Yeah, if it is the one I saw, it looks "kind of" official. Ce...

Ah, did you miss out there! At the time this was going around, I worked in a different school system. They had tested a number of kits at a sample school and determined that all kits containing the baddies were to be destroyed. We had to fork out the cost of a guy coming out in almost hazmat gear to...

I have a person looking for casual work. Is a Biology graduate so chemical handling is good. He worked with me last year for a few months. Knows how schools work and is familiar with Riskassess. He's happy to do whatever needs to be done. Available from mid-May until mid-August. Can work Southern Hi...

Set it and plead not guilty - "must be Riskassess doing it".

With keeping copies of RA... we do only for the year they are running. At the end of the year I do a backup on RA and send them all to a file. No more hard copies anywhere and they are then saved in the system for ever. Riskassess also have a number of back ups in their system, too. I am not really...