Australia's Science Forum

Hi Everyone
My teachers want to know how other teachers order they practical lessons. Here they write it into a book usually 24 hrs in Advance but they are wanting a system where they can send it to me electronically and maybe even record data on what's being used and how often
any info would be greatly appreciated

Hi Nichole,
We use riskassess. It's an electronic system that the teachers use to generate orders and i print off in the prep room. It records how much is used and when. It costs but is worth it as it registors time and date of lodging (stops teachers saying that they had ordered equipment earlier etc)

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 to their website riskassess.com.au - to sign up.

Love it

Love RiskAssess, generates a risk assessment for the prac, lists requirements for prac, has a laboratory schedule, can search for 'old' pracs, generates labels for solutions. I think the cost is approximately $200.

It's worth every penny.

Thanks Everyone will let the staff and head teacher know and they can discuss it at the next meeting seems exactly what they want

new record for this year, without Riskassess I think I'd be lost. Since 9 am yesterday to 3.30 next Friday I have 57 pracs booked so far.

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.

Merilyn1 wrote: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.

in one week? that's ridiculous. I'm only science thank god, but WHS rep as well.

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

Risk Assess - all the way ... when i started here it was a manual order slip pinned on a board for the day and period ... I have many cheat sheets and notes I have done up you are welcome to ... and even if you want to pop over and check ours out - we have just hit a year and teachers now reaping reward of programming and using risk assess ...

Thanks Lorikeet if they decide on that's what they want I will definitely take you up on the offer

Hi just got risk assess trial for 2 weeks and was wondering if you have to print out whole risk assessment sheet to send to the class or can you just print out the items needed for the prac, teachers don't want a whole A4 sheet on the trolley they only have a A5 sheet with items ordered on it now
thanks

I print out the whole risk assessment and the teachers (sometimes) read out the risks to the class. I'm not sure how many of them actually read it before they sign it, but I make sure it's in front of them when they start the prac.

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 storage.
The other thought is to print off and save the hard copy.
I do print them off, give it to the teacher with the prac. There is then no dispute over what I've provided and what they ordered - it is in their face. I am also able to make hand written notes eg materials in fridge; this is all that is left etc. I then file this copy away after the prac. It is also giving a summary of the hazards of each item, which is not a substitute for reading the SDS, but does give some brief information.
Interestingly, the WHS auditor last week, wanted to know if I kept hard copies of the risk assessments.

I do all of the above except file the hard copy, I print out the weekly schedule summary and file.

I print out a hard copy but it stays in the prep room on the side of the compactus - the sheets were forever getting lost or damaged. After the prac is finished with I file these in a folder. I also print up the weekly schedule and file these with the prac orders.

I've printed up A5 signs and laminated them, I write the teacher, prac name, scheduling info & anything else they need to know on these in whiteboard marker. I have printed FINISHED on the back so once the prac is over, the teachers just need to turn the signs over and I can pack it all away.

Head teacher has decided against rick assess reason being liability if the wrong level of risk is picked (low,High Etc) and something happens who is liable also no training on helping which risk level to pick thanks everyone for your input

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 would strongly suggest that you do your own risk assessment for your part of the process. Will the teachers be using a template for the RAs? Maybe you could add to this template, if it exists, a section for your own risk assessment. This is not the RA for the prac, that is the teacher's responsibility, it is only for your tasks.
It sounds very frustrating. A situation where some teachers may need some training in risk management, including those making the decisions on what system to implement.