Chemical Education Today
Editorial
Keeping Chemistry and Chemists Safe In a recent editorial titled “Taking Safety Seriously”, Rudy Baum noted that Chemical and Engineering News has an ongoing commitment to safety in chemical laboratories (1). So does this Journal. However, Baum also noted that safe laboratory practices are “sometimes taken more seriously by industrial than by academic chemists”. This is not the first mention of a difference between academic and industrial safety, and it almost certainly will not be the last. Because most readers of this Journal are in academe, we ought to reaffirm our commitment to chemical health and safety and make certain that we are doing all we can to improve it. Many resources are available in support of such a goal. This Journal regularly publishes Chemical Laboratory Information Profiles (CLIPs) by Jay A. Young, a safety consultant. Each CLIP summarizes information that is available in more detail in a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), with the goal of providing busy teachers with information specifically tailored to their classrooms and laboratories. In the near future we will publish a CD-ROM collection of 100 CLIPs, so that the entire collection can be accessed easily and quickly (see p 969). We also have a regular column, Safety Tips, edited by Tim Champion, a Hazards section is required for all laboratory experiments published, calling readers’ attention to potential safety problems, and letters to the editor often underscore the need for constant vigilance regarding safety. JCE Software’s Chemistry Comes Alive! (CCA!) collection of videos shows safe practices whenever chemistry is done and contains many videos comparing safe and unsafe laboratory techniques (2). These videos can be used to show students the consequences of unsafe procedures. Many have been incorporated into ChemPages Laboratory, which shows correct laboratory techniques for students at the high school and general chemistry levels (3). JCE DigiDemos also incorporates safety information and updates through its forums on chemical demonstrations (4). Proposals for expanding JCE’s coverage of chemical health and safety are welcome at any time. The ACS also has many resources for those who want to improve chemical safety. C&EN has an online collection of more than 50 Safety Letters published since 1993 (5). These are valuable reading for all chemistry teachers. In May 2003 a Safety Letter described an explosion involving hydrogen balloons that had been transported to the site of a demonstration program in a large plastic bag. Apparently hydrogen that had leaked into the bag was ignited by a spark generated as the balloons rubbed against the plastic. Remind yourself to consult the C&EN Safety Letters at least once a year to make certain that you have not missed any important safety issues. The ACS also has an active Committee on Chemical Safety (see p 995). Many of the committee’s publications will be valuable to you and your students (6). Single issues are available free and can also be viewed online as PDF files. Some titles of interest are “Chemical Safety for Teachers and Their Super-
www.JCE.DivCHED.org
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Perhaps those of us in academe can reverse the longstanding view that we don’t take safety as seriously as does the chemical industry.
visors, Grades 7–12”, “Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories, 7th Edition, Volumes 1 and 2”, “Safety in the Elementary (K–6) Science Classroom”, and “Safety for Introductory Chemistry Students”. Clearly the committee’s members are dedicated to the task of preventing accidents and incidents that could harm students and tarnish the image of chemistry and chemists. Last, but by no means least, the ACS has a Division of Chemical Health and Safety that organizes programs at ACS meetings and publishes the Journal of Chemical Health & Safety as well as a newsletter (7). With over 1500 members, many of them safety officers, CHAS has a broad range of resources and people who are making strong contributions to health and safety. This brief overview cannot include all of the many resources available from the ACS and other organizations. More information on safety related to chemical education can be obtained by going to chemistry.org, clicking on “educators & students”, and searching for “safety”. I strongly recommend that you and every chemist renew your commitment to fostering safety in all aspects of your work and to making students aware of the importance of safe practices and accident avoidance. Perhaps those of us in academe can reverse the longstanding view that we don’t take safety as seriously as does the chemical industry. Literature Cited 1. Baum, Rudy M. Chem. Eng. News 2005, 83 (Apr 11), 3; http://pubs.acs.org/cen/editor/83/8315edit.html (accessed May 2005). 2. See http://www.jce.divched.org/JCESoft/CCA/ (accessed May 2005). 3. See http://www.jce.divched.org/JCESoft/Programs/VideoCD/CPL/ index.html (accessed May 2005). 4. See http://www.jce.divched.org/JCEDLib/DigiDemos/index.html (accessed May 2005). 5. See http://pubs.acs.org/cen/safety/index.html (accessed May 2005). 6. See http://membership.acs.org/c/ccs/ (accessed May 2005). 7. See http://membership.acs.org/c/chas/ (accessed May 2005).
Vol. 82 No. 7 July 2005
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Journal of Chemical Education
967
