Accidents to science assistants

[estelle]

Last week I attended our local science assistant meeting and met two assistants who have just started working in science, they are both previous admin assistants. I asked if they had been given any training and no, they were just told, that is where they would be working.
I asked the others at the meeting if there was something we could do as a group to change this so that anyone working in science should be trained by the DET before they set foot in the place. They didn't seem to think that there was.
So, I was wondering because this is such a good site for information and help, whether anyone can suggest a way we can get something done about the situation.

I worked here in science as a casual for 3 months and did very basic work and because I liked the science area I took myself off and did the two year TAFE correspondence course at my expense. I could see the need for training in this area to understand how to safely use chemicals and equipment etc. I have definately used that knowledge to my advantage since being employed as a permanent. It shouldn't be up to us to find our own training, if this was the private sector in employment training would be mandatory I think.

I would like to know how other lab assistants document injuries, accidents etc that happen to them. When I first worked here I sliced my finger badly pushing glass tubing into a stopper requiring 6 stitches. Pretty much I cut myself, went off to the Dr and came back to work, nothing was written down and so I was never contacted by workcover to see why the accident happened in the first place. I would have told them it was because I had never been shown properly in the first place. I have had several other things happen which should have been documented but when I mentioned it to the Deputy he basically laughed.
Last term I accidently wiped some nitrates in my eye and got a huge infection that required antibiotics. This time I made sure I reported it and the next day GIO rang to find out what had happened, how it could be avoided, and if I needed reimbursment for Doctor visits etc. there was even a meeting between the Principal and my Head Teacher about the incident.

So if we as lab assistants were to have a central register or something of these sort of injuries, would that make a difference to the way the DET think about training? Maybe because we just look after ourselves and don't document things properly they think training is uneccessary.
I would be very interested to hear of any injuries that anyone has had and if they were documented at all.
If I had enough evidence, I would collate this and send it to the the PSA or DET training so some sort of changes in training may occur.
I could have put this on the other thread that I saw about OH & S but I was hoping the heading about accidents might get a better response.

Sorry this is so long to read but I am keen to get some changes happening.

Estelle.

[Labbie]

Our local net work meeting, we have been down this road. Their is NO one qualifed to train us ANY MORE. The tafe has stopped the course now, and the DET have ask two ladies to become trainers. They are run off their feet, they both work 4 days a week at schools. And the DET thought one day a week to train would be ok. But these ladies are in a meeting the PSA & DET on the need for trainers in this area. Its working fine " I believe " is the DET idea of things. We can not train others, only Head Teachers can, even if we are trained our shelves. Silly is'nt it. No word from PSA as yet

The ladies have earned their certificate 4 in Science and trainer.

[Slartibartfast]

The GIO, Workcover and the NSW Dept of Ed. would be the ones to approach. The GIO because they are our insurer and would want to limit compensation payouts, Workcover because that is their area of expertise for our state government and our employer because they care(!?) Not really. They all pass the buck but the GIO would have total records of all reported accidents.

Do you keep records of near misses? Your OH & S committe should keep a record of these also, not just injury notifications. A trip hazard on a slippery floor might make people slip but not fall loads of times but an actual fall resulting in injuries and workers compensation may never happen. Doesn't mean the risk is not a serious one.

The potential for serious injury in our area is huge but in the bigger scheme of things they are more worried about bullying and stress, mainly in teachers.

[sunray18]

I have had a few accidents in my time as Lab Tech. I had a nasty one last year with an unlabelled beaker of black powder. It slipped in my hand and I ended up with it in my eyes and down my throat. I was alone in the science area, the teacher responsible for it was away from school at sport, and Ihad to deal with the injury by myself as best I could. My medical cost for the local GP was paid for by the Catholic School's insurer, but months later we were informed that Workcover were going to investigate the incident. I wont go into the whole story after THAT announcement, but I learned then that a Lab Tech needs to watch their own back! I contacted the Union for help and they were very supportive - I am still awaiting a decision by Workcover.

[Slartibartfast]

They'll be wanting to know if you knew what the beaker contained at the time, who made it, when, why it wasn't labeled at the time of the accident, actions taken during handling of the beaker, actions taken after the incident, 1st aid administered by, who reported to and relevant MSDS for that beakers contents being available.

What was it? Was it naughty?

[sunray18]

It actually turned out to be Copper Oxide- which burnt my eyes and my throat. There was no Risk assessment done by the teacher (who doesnt bother anyway), she had got all the chemicals she wanted out by herself, I had no idea what prac they had done - just a beaker appeared on the edge of the bench with black stuff in it. It was so light that it flew every where - up under my safety glasses, in my hair.
I WAS asked by OH&S from Head Office why hadnt I gone to the MSDS sheet to make sure i was doing the right thing? And why did I use copious amounts of water if i didnt know what it was - I could have been doing the worst thing by doing so! duh!!!!
I DIDN'T have a clue what the stuff was so how could I check an MSDS/ I couldnt see anyway so how could I read an MSDS IF I knew what the stuff was?

[Voice]

Unbelievable!!!!!! Well it's not really. If some teacher came into myChemical Store area, he/she would be shot. And then to do that to you, no labelling etc....
There in lies the blame, if Workcover is looking for one.

If NSW Workcover is the same as that in Victoria, then do not worry. In Victoria, Workcover is a no blame insurance. Therefore, even if you had caused the problem, you would still be looked after! Take my word on that. My husband is on about 13 Vic. Gov. committees regarding Workcover and is considered THE MAN. Done lots of work in NSW.

Regarding Workcover, Slartibartfast is correct. That's all they will want to do. Possibly find ways to make sure it does not happen again.

I do all our risk assessments here. I don't necessarily like it, but sometimes, on occasions like this, it is definitely a benefit.

And to all of you, you should ALWAYSwrite up an incident report when you have an accident and make sure it is held in your personal file for future reference. You must look after yourself.

Maree

[Slartibartfast]

That teacher should be flogged. "Not Bothering' with MSDS or risk assessments - it's a fairly major part of teaching Science. I would be 'not bothering' to prepare her pracs unless they were in place beforehand.

I hope she felt rotten after what happened to you as a direct result of her inactions and I'm sure Workcover will point out her failure in no uncertain terms.

[Labbie]

Any one know what happened at Macqaurie university (Sure it was that university) an explosion, in the prep room. Some one using ETHER, two fume cupboards and part of the ceiling went up. Thats all I know.

[smiley]

Best accident I had was when I dropped about 2L of NaOH down my leg - it was slippery because it had been spilled down the outside of the container. I sprinted and leapt into a sink where I started washing my leg A LOT! The irony of the situation was that it was a pupil free day and most of the staff were off doing a First Aid course! Luckily I had my mobile in my pocket so I called the school's front office and people came to my rescue. I must say, we had one particular spot on the balcony outside my lab which was VERY clean. Horrendously, though, we had NaOH dripping off the balcony to the ground below, so thank the Lord it was a pupil free day! I had to throw away my lab shoes, because even after three soakings and washes they still left a little ring of blisters around my ankle. So the school paid for some new, you beaut, podiatrist recommended nursing type shoes. Nothing like a bit of drama to get the heart racing.

Cheers, K

[estelle]

I found this information on the DET site regarding OH & S. The web site is advertised on the back of the pamphlet given out by NSW DET that we all received on "An employee's guide to reporting OHS incidents and injuries" I assume everyone got one.

I copied this information from the site

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2000 - SECT 8
Duties of employers
8 Duties of employers
(1) Employees An employer must ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all the employees of the employer.
That duty extends (without limitation) to the following:

(d) providing such information, instruction, training and supervision as may be necessary to ensure the employees’ health and safety at work,

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2000
- As at 29 February 2008
- Act 40 of 2000


OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATION 2001 - REG 13
Employer to provide instruction, training and information
13 Employer to provide instruction, training and information
(1) An employer must ensure that each new employee receives induction training that covers the following:
(a) arrangements at the place of work for the management of occupational health and safety, including arrangements for reporting hazards to management,
(b) health and safety procedures at the place of work relevant to the employee, including the use and maintenance of risk control measures,
(c) how employees can access any health and safety information that the employer is required by this Regulation to make available to employees,
(d) any other matter that this Regulation specifies should be the subject of induction training and that is relevant to the place of work concerned having regard to the competence, experience and age of the new employee.
Maximum penalty: Level 3.

So, how come there isn't any training offered to science assistants???
Does anyone know if the Department of Education is excempt from this act?

Estelle

[jat]

A good story I like to tell and involved me happened about 35 years ago when I first started as a fresh faced trainee chemist in an industry lab. At the time the old chief chemist decided it was time to tidy up and clean out the chem. store of all those old chemicals that had not been used for a long time or were of no further use. Of course a lot of these old chemicals had either no labels at all or labels that were unreadable.

In our cleanup we discovered this bottle of “stuff” and before disposing of, thought we would do the right thing and try and determine what it was. After a few test which included running on a emission spec. it was decided by the powers to be that it was Sodium Carbonate. In those days before the EPA etc if you wanted to dispose of anything it just went down the sink, so this is what I was instructed to do. All went along smoothly at first when all of a sudden all hell broke loose. A huge explosion, glass flying over our heads, the sink and surrounding cupboards were on fire and the lab was filling up with smoke!

You may by now have worked out what was actually in the bottle- Sodium metal about 500g worth. It has been on the shelve that long that the kero (that’s what they use to stored it in) had evaporated and the top few cm had formed a Sodium Carbonate crust on top. By the grace of God no one was hurt, not even a scratch – even considering the flying glass, and the fire brigade soon arrived to extinguish the fire! Needless to say the cupboards, sink and pluming system took a hammering

Moral of the story- nothing is as it seems and always expect the unexpected. Always thought it was a great initiation into the world of chemistry!!

John

[Slartibartfast]

See! And they want to ban the stuff the killjoys!

The Dept most certainly isn't exempt from current workcover legislation but they are a bit slack (always are when money is involved) in keeping everyones understanding up to scratch. They have a crackdown every couple of years to keep the District Superintendants on their toes or whenever an 'incident' makes the news. Then they go hunting.

[smiley]

As a collector of funny tales, that's a classic! What a shame there wasn't some CCTV footage, it'd be huge!

Back in my youth,as the child of a mad scientist, in a University possibly located in the nation's capital, my Dad used to tell a tale of the Uni lecturer who came into his lab one morning and was exasperated to see that some pranksters had gone a bit too far with the old practical joke thing, and had cut off all the benches and stools to about 2ft off the ground. Upon walking around the lab he discovered a large hole in the floor and a round metal object crashed into a cupboard door. Apparently,an autoclave had been left on all weekend, and finally the lid had blown off, up and around and around and around, severing everything in its path!

Imagine the OH&S investiation into that one!

Cheers, K