School culture concerning food.

[MrsCooper]

Hey fellow labbies!
I'm fairly new in these parts and I'm still feeling my way around the job and I'm looking for some help.

What is the deal with food in science pracs?? Is it edible or not?
I imagine (based on what RiskAssess says) that students shouldn't eat any lollies or stuff like that, because of contamination, but the culture at my school is that kids can and are allowed to eat any food used in pracs. This sentiment is shared by my Head of Department.

So these three questions plague me:
What does WHS say and where do I actually find that information?
Would I be in the wrong to let it continue to happen?
What do you guys do?

Jackie.

[Labbie]

The CSIS tells us no food or drink in a Science class AT ALL. Chemicals stay in the air for years and years so we are told. Hence we are told to wear lab coats & PPE for the reason. SO no NO. Student can go to the door and open it, for a drink from there water bottles.

[Merilyn1]

For those of us not following CSIS, the pure WHS thing to do is a risk assessment. Outside of CSIS, there is no clear directions about this. There is argument that it is a classroom and not a lab.

What happens in the classroom/lab is not your responsibility. You should do a risk assessment for your own tasks (if you are using Riskassess you can use this for that purpose). Teachers are the ones with control over what is happening in the classroom, not us. This applies to all pracs. It is wise to point out any risky practices e.g. teacher giving a Yr 11-12 chemical to Year 9, or a teacher not doing their risk assessments at all. Ultimately, it is between the teacher and your coordinator. Always ensure that your safety is protected when they make their decision.

We do let students have food in some pracs but they sit at their desks, food is not allowed on the bench. We give clean paper to put on the desks first. Students never handle chemicals at their desks, always on the benches. Teachers will judge their students behaviour and not go ahead if there is a risk of them behaving poorly. I guess you would have a problem if you had a classroom where the students did pracs where they had to sit.

[MrsCooper]

Thanks for the replies, they are very helpful!
I spoke to our WHS person yesterday about it and they suggested that it is okay given a few safety steps were taken, pretty much as you put it Merilyn; doing the 'prac' at the desks after cleaning the desks, sanitising hands and laying down clean paper. The WHS rep seemed to consider the desks as a classroom environment and the benches across the room as being a separate area with different risks. Makes sense to me!

Merilyn, you just blew my mind. I had no idea that I was supposed to be considering the prep/clean-up risk, and not the risk of actually running the prac. I've been trying to imagine how each prac would go in the classroom and how it might be dangerous!
I feel a bit silly, I just read the RiskAssess how-to and it says exactly what you said!

[Merilyn1]

Don't feel bad. I think it is an often repeated mistake. I was certainly doing that initially until I heard a talk from the Riskassess people and the light was switched on! It also fits in my thinking that I don't get paid enough to worry about what goes on in classrooms (not to say I ignore risky behaviour, I just don't take it on as my responsibility).
Have a look at using Riskassess for your own risk assessments for making up stock solutions, agar plates etc. Happy for you to PM me if you have any questions.

[bigmack]

I wish I had taken a picture of one of our Labs yesterday . It was a down right disgrace. Some kid had pulled out a Peanut butter Sanga ....like those are banned anyway ....and then proceeds to smear it around the classroom . Then some other kid pulls out an apple , takes bites and spits them everywhere. Then to make things worse another animal , gets out his water bottle and sprays it everywhere .

Where are the head teachers and deputies when all this happens ? The kids know there is insufficient supervision or consequences .

[MrsCooper]

Wow Bigmack, that sounds rough! I hope you chase it up and get steps taken to stop it happening again.

[Labbie]

Where was the teacher??????

[bigmack]

There . Apparently every-time she turned her back to write stuff , they’d start throwing stuff .

Back on topic ,
We make Sherbet in the Labs . Have a dedicated set of morter and pestles and stuff thats kept in the staff room for this prac . Kids get to take it home to eat .

[cactus155]

We are making wine in one of our classes starting tomorrow, however we cannot call it wine making so its become a fermentation experiment but using grapes and wine yeast and products I have purchased from the home brew shop

[bigmack]

LOL , I've been asked to bring in 25 Lemons from my tree tomorrow .Apparently they are making pickled Lemon
Shertbet is being made as I type .

[Anna Z]

We are making wine in one of our classes starting tomorrow, however we cannot call it wine making so its become a fermentation experiment but using grapes and wine yeast and products I have purchased from the home brew shop

Ohhhhhh fun, that would be a great class.

[cactus155]

I would prefer making Whisky

[macca]

I would prefer making Whisky

"Grappa"

[RosalieL]

There . Apparently every-time she turned her back to write stuff , they’d start throwing stuff .

Back on topic ,
We make Sherbet in the Labs . Have a dedicated set of morter and pestles and stuff thats kept in the staff room for this prac . Kids get to take it home to eat .

Just curious - why do you need a mortar and pestle for this prac?

[bigmack]

There . Apparently every-time she turned her back to write stuff , they’d start throwing stuff .

Back on topic ,
We make Sherbet in the Labs . Have a dedicated set of morter and pestles and stuff thats kept in the staff room for this prac . Kids get to take it home to eat .

Just curious - why do you need a mortar and pestle for this prac?

Good question . I think it is to drag the prac out a bit longer .Kids love grinding stuff up . I have to get coarse sugar for it but some teachers like caster sugar.
There was even one that requested jelly crystals as well

[RosalieL]

Yeah we just use icing sugar and jelly crystals! Maybe we need to make it harder for the kids!

[Merilyn1]

Yep - icing sugar, jelly crystals, bicarb, citric acid and sometimes tartaric acid. No mortar and pestles.