Better Science and STEM Safety Approaches for New Teachers

Join internationally recognized science and lab safety specialists Dr. Ken Roy, and Dr. Tyler Love, as they provide critical insights into the world of Science and STEM safety as it pertains to new teachers.  Both of these respected academic and practical educators bring more than 60 years of combined safety education and experience to life in this session focused on raising safety awareness in schools particularly in the areas of laboratory safety, CTE safety, and T&E safety. 

Presented by Science Safety

Overview

Given today’s litigious society, and the rise in the popularity of maker spaces and fabrication labs (Fab Labs) in Science, STEM, and CTE education, teacher and student safety programs are receiving greater attention.  With the increased emphasis on these hands-on practical courses involving students, there is an equally important aspect for the teachers and school principals to be mindful of – safety for all.  Having this increased safety awareness is only possible through a carefully architected holistic inter-connected approach from the school district level to the school level ultimately to the classroom or laboratory level with different layers of responsibility for each level.

Using recent data our hosts discuss the benefits of a formal safety training program for new Science/STEM/CTE teachers and the added dimensions of using safety acknowledgment forms, performing safety inspections, reviewing your Chemical Hygiene Plan and Safety Manuals, and how these all work together cohesively to minimize liability and increase safety awareness. 

Our hosts start the session with some interesting visual aids, and ask the audience to look at some images on their screen and determine if these are appropriate and acceptable safer practices for students.  At first pass, the images all appear to be following commonly used safer practices, but upon inspection, they note that there are multiple safety infractions occurring in each of the images.  They point out some common mistakes that occur, especially with eye protection.  They reviewed the differences and scenarios when a pair of safety glasses are acceptable in the laboratory and contrast that with when a certified, indirectly vented, chemical splash goggle is necessary.  They continue to identify that when handling specimens, liquids, chemicals and other items in the laboratory, that students must also be wearing hand protection (gloves) for safety purposes, and that quite often, students are not provided with a lab coat or a lab apron to protect their clothing when performing science, STEM, or CTE activities that require this level of PPE.  Another interesting take away from these slides was the fact that the students and the teacher in some images had long hair which was not tied back which is another safety infraction.   These introductory slides set the tone for the presentation and helped increase safety awareness simultaneously.

Science and STEM Safety Approaches for New Teachers

The presentation then moveis nto the area of ‘New Teachers’ which were defined as brand new educators or those with less than three years of teaching experience in a school setting.  Dr. Tyler Love and Dr. Roy were very clear about the role of the employer (being the school district) and the employee (being the teacher) as well as the responsibility of the employer to provide certain safety training and resources to these new teachers as soon as they are hired.  Dr. Roy has many articles on this subject of new teachers, and he noted that ‘Building safer science behaviors begins at the elementary and middle school levels. These practices serve as guidelines for future laboratory work, with many carryovers into everyday life. Safer science is critical for the teacher as an instructor and employee and for the student as a learner and citizen. Learning to teach and practice safer science is a lifelong endeavor, and I hope you will join me in this process’.

There is legislation specific to new teachers or teachers who take a new assignment (new grade level or a new subject area) that they must have safety training provide to them immediately and have this documented for liability purposes.  As Dr. Roy noted, ‘Science safety doesn’t just mean following a set of rules. Safer science practice requires common sense and the teacher’s intuition that helps predict what might happen when we least expect it. To foster inquiry in a safer environment, teachers must not only keep up-to-date with the latest information about products, hazards, and best practice but also consider the developmental level of their budding scientists. As always, remember that the best piece of safety equipment in your classroom is you—the informed adult shaping and controlling the learning and working environment.’  All school employees protected under Federal OSHA or similar state plans are covered by the 1986 Hazard Communication Standard or HazCom/ Right to Know law (29 CFR 1910.1200). However, as of 1990, because of the dangers and uniqueness inherent in laboratory work, employers under Federal OSHA or similar state plans are required to cover laboratory workers specifically (including science teachers) with the OSHA Laboratory Standard (29 CFR 1910.1450 Subpart Z).  You can search for these legal aspects online but just know that you are entitled to safety training as soon as you are hired and that it must be specific to your role as a science, STEM or CTE educator.

The importance of a Chemical Hygiene Plan

Dr. Ken Roy then continued on speaking about the importance of a Chemical Hygiene Plan and sometimes a Safety Manual provided by the district and the role of the Chemical Hygiene Officer.  The OSHA Laboratory Standard is performance based. OSHA provides the basic outline requirements, then each employer (e.g., board of education) writes a plan tailored to its independent needs. For example, plans may vary from district to district relative to differing standard operating procedures, but all plans must contain standard operating procedures. Three important components of the standard include the development of a chemical hygiene plan (CHP), the appointment of a chemical hygiene officer (CHO), and employee training. The written CHP must be developed to protect employees from hazards associated with chemicals in the laboratory. Although generic plans are available, each plan must be unique to address the specific needs of individual workplaces. The employer is responsible for developing and enforcing the plan. The standard also requires that the employer appoint a CHO to develop and implement the CHP. The CHO position is an appointment under the OSHA standard as opposed to a required new hiring.  All of these components together start to build on the complete safety program in the school district.

A Holistic Science & STEM Science Safety Program

 Our hosts introduce a Holistic Science & STEM Science Safety Risk Management Process to the audience and discuss the various aspects and how these are connected to each other and that these repeat every school year.  The discussion started on the eight pillars of the program and how each of these contribute to the overall comprehensiveness of the overall program.  Having a single or a handful of these in place does not constitute a reliable, comprehensive or complete program for school districts.  In order to achieve a more robust and dynamic safety program requires involvement from multiple levels in the school district and a clear understanding of the roles and accountability / responsibility that accompany each component of the program.

The first and most important aspect of the program is the annual safety training required for principals, teachers, and students specifically on safety awareness and connected to the subject area (Science, STEM or CTE) and across the grade levels.  This is not limited to only high school but elementary and middle school as well. The safety training must be documented and must be current, and formal with a certificate of completion and assessments.  This is very important to manage risk in the school and the school district.  Secondly, the Chemical Hygiene Plan must be reviewed at a minimum annually (typically by the Chemical Hygiene Officer) and amendments made accordingly to align with changes in chemical handling, storage, disposal, COVID-19, or other standard operating procedures in your jurisdiction.

A discussion on the importance of using a Lab Safety Acknowledgment form and that it is really not considered a ‘contract’ (since students are under the age of 18) and that these need to be kept, securely stored until the student reaches the age of 18 or 21 in different states.  Digital archiving of these forms is a great way to manage this requirement.  Then the discussion moved towards conducting a hazard analysis and risk assessment for EACH activity planned or performed in the program.  Basically, as the educator, you are responsible for the selection of the activity or STEM investigation and you have a duty of care to evaluate the hazards and mitigate these.  The question is: Does the risk exceed the educational value?  If it does – you choose another activity or different items to meet your curricular objective. 

The next important aspects of the safety program are ensuring that you have the appropriate PPE for each person in the room including the proper protective eyewear meaning safety glasses or safety goggles depending on the scenario and materials used in the activity, a fitted lab coat or apron, protective hand coverings like nitrile gloves and other necessary protective measures related to the investigation.  The next step in the holistic safety program is conducting a physical safety inspection and examining the engineering controls, PPE, safety infrastructure equipment, and many other important criteria.  The inspection must occur annually and be documented.  Any deficiency or infraction is recorded and then work orders are issued to remediate these concerns.  This annual safety inspection is critically important and a mandated requirement from OSHA. 

And finally, the chemical inventory and SDS (Safety Data Sheet) management and annual inspection is connected to the safety inspection and the review of the security including storage and safety cabinets and open shelves are the last part of the program.  Having a digital chemical inventory that indicates the amounts on hand, the chemical name, the location, and the corresponding SDS makes the science department that much more efficient.  The ability to print GHS compliant labels is also very compelling when considering the time savings and regulatory alignment is an asset in the busy department.  When conducting the inspections of the chemical store room, examining the safety storage cabinets is very important.  Looking for signs of incompatible chemical storage is pretty evident and should be documented and addressed.

By following this outline and involving the eight steps in the holistic Science safety risk management process your schools can have a safer teaching and learning environment and minimize risk, minimize liability, and provide a solid inquiry-based program for students.

Science and STEM Safety survey and research study

Our hosts provided valuable and illuminating insights into the recent survey and research study about safety in schools and a deeper analysis of the data points.  There are fascinating results and some insights into the real-world teaching environments across American schools.  These findings are frightening and preventable and clearly demonstrate that safety concerns exist in schools today and that teachers are not adequately prepared or have access to the proper items to provide a safer environment while teaching. These results are from 202o just before the pandemic and are a true reflection of the working conditions for educators. 

Science and STEM Safety survey findings

As a summary, here are some of the key findings:

• 35% of teachers of STEM and CTE did not have any formalized safety training
• 69% of teachers do not use a safety contract or acknowledgement form with their students
• STEM accident increase once class size exceeds 24 students
• 58% of teachers could not recall the last annual safety inspection in their school
• 31% of schools did not have a reliable SDS management system in place   
• 41% of schools perform a chemical inventory annually
• 37% of schools are unsure how they dispose of chemicals in the district
• 57% of schools have classes larger than 25 students, but only 26% of those schools have a facility large enough to support that many students
• 86% of classrooms have a fire extinguisher
• 77% of accidents involve students
• Teachers report that overcrowding is the second largest cause of accidents in the school laboratories
• Only 45% of schools have ANSI Z87.1 D3 2020 indirectly vented splash goggles for working with liquids but 83% have safety glasses for students working with solids
• 51% of schools nationally have had an injury or litigation
• 80% of science & STEM teachers reported having 1 injury in their classes in the past year
• 62% of teachers regard students not following instructions as the leading cause of accidents or injuries

And the single most important finding after reviewing the data from the study was that TEACHERS WITH FORMALIZED SAFETY TRAINING ARE 49% LESS LIKELY TO HAVE ACCIDENTS IN THEIR LABORATORIES.  This validates the necessity for safety training and education through professional development and learning and collaborating with peers and colleagues about better professional practices and having a heightened level of safety awareness.  The single most important aspect of school safety starts with formalized safety training for the teacher.

By having a thorough understanding of the hazards and possible risks through conducting a Triple AAA activity assessment teachers can help offer safer alternatives and make the necessary evaluations prior to having students involved with the selected activity.  Dr. Roy shared some common items that should be ‘red flags’ and have no place in the STEM lab or activities.  The use of Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessments are a necessary step in the planning process and will help keep students and teachers safer when meeting the outcomes and indicators in the curriculum that are age and stage appropriate. 

Conclusion

The conclusion to this interactive session involved handling questions from the audience about their school situations and covered topics ranging from choosing appropriate safety eye protection to safer chemical storage and then to some advice for new teachers in Science, STEM and CTE programs.  Overall it was a useful and practical session for all involved.

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