Thursday, May 28, 2015

INJURIES, FIRES AND OTHER MISHAPS DURING CHEMICAL EDUCATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS ARE ON THE RISE: CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT GOES AWRY, INJURES STUDENTS AT LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL IN TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

 


MAY 23, 2015

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

A chemistry experiment gone wrong injured three Lincoln High School students Friday morning.

Leon County Emergency Medical Services responded to the call, along with the Tallahassee Fire Department and the Sheriff's Office. Two students were admitted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital with burns suffered during the incident, and another student was released to parental care. Both hospitalized students are in stable condition, confirmed Chris Petley, spokesman for Leon County Schools.

A flame test being demonstrated by an experienced teacher during an AP chemistry class resulted in the accident.

"The teacher is devastated," Principal Allen Burch said. "But she handled everything correctly."

Burch said that students were wearing protective gear and that the teacher had successfully carried out flame tests in the past. His first concern is the students' recovery.

"As far as next steps – we'll sit down and look at how the flame test was conducted," he added. "We'll see how or if we missed anything."

A flame test is designed to analyze mineral salts. Flames produced from burning a substance in question emit certain colors, allowing observers to determine the presence of specific elements. Several elements in a type of a common flame test called the rainbow experiment release vivid colors and can be fascinating to watch, especially for students.

However, a string of disastrous accidents in high school chemistry labs in the U.S. indicates that the experiment – despite education or entertainment value – may not be worth conducting at all, according to national media reports.

The experiment is performed underneath a fume hood on a lab bench. A flammable solvent – in Friday's accident it was alcohol – is used to ignite the flame. But it also creates the conditions for a flash fire.

Flame tests are high-risk and are "totally uncalled for," said Dr. Kenneth Roy, chief science safety compliance officer at the National Science Teachers Association. 

Roy, who has recently noticed a marked increase in reporting of flame test accidents in high schools, too often serves as an expert witness in cases involving victims of flame test accidents. He reported there were at least five flame test accidents this year that resulted in severe burns to students.

"Some kids for the rest of their lives will wear these scars," he said. "Parents think they're sending their kids to a safe place, and in these cases they weren't."

Roy's major point of contention is that flame test accidents are almost entirely preventable. Teachers must be aware of all safety aspects and have proper training. 

"What were these school's standard operating procedures when handling hazardous materials? Were science teachers certified? Are they using safety equipment? Are they incorporating best practices?" he added.

In a follow-up interview, Petley said that the district has strong oversight on safety in science classrooms, and the accident at Lincoln was not a case of negligence.

There is not a uniform policy on how to specifically manage chemistry laboratories, but all schools are highly-regulated, he said. Schools must meet criteria outlined by federal guidelines under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including safety training. Every August, all secondary science teachers in Leon County attend a safety course led by Fisher Scientific.

http://www.tallahassee.com

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Friday, February 27, 2015

INJURIES, FIRES AND OTHER MISHAPS DURING CHEMICAL EDUCATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS ARE ON THE RISE: EXPLOSION DURING SCIENCE EXPERIMENT AT BILLINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INJURES FOUR 


FEBRUARY 27, 2015

BILLINGS, MONTANA

Two Sandstone Elementary students and others were injured Friday afternoon when a glass container used in an science experiment demonstration exploded.

According to school officials, a Rocky Mountain College instructor and two graduate students were showing a group of elementary students the experiment on the playground around 2:15 pm when the explosion occurred. The instructor and one grad student also were injured. 

The instructor and grad students "were showing an experiment that they have done countless times but this time something went wrong with the experiment causing a glass container to explode," Superintendent Terry Bouck said in an email to school board members sent at 3:15 p.m.

School officials said none of the injuries were life-threatening.

"There were no harmful chemicals, but the glass shards did injure the RMC instructor, one RMC graduate student, and two elementary students," Bouck said in the email. "The students were injured from the glass flying to where they were located watching the experiment."

Emergency crews and ambulances were called to the school, as were the parents of the injured students, Bouck said. School officials were working to notify the parents of group of students involved in the incident, he said.
The scientific demonstration involved a liquid changing color and had been performed at other schools in past years.  

Bouck said an investigation will try to determine what happened and how to prevent it.  He is not sure if a chemical reaction caused the beaker to break or if it was dropped.

He says School District 2 has a long-standing partnership with Rocky Mountain College.


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CSB RELEASES “KEY LESSONS FOR PREVENTING INCIDENTS FROM FLAMMABLE CHEMICALS IN EDUCATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS” IN WAKE OF SEVERAL SERIOUS METHANOL ACCIDENTS THAT INJURED CHILDREN AND ADULTS

October 30, 2014, Denver, CO – Today the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released a safety bulletin called “Key Lessons for Preventing Incidents from Flammable Chemicals in Educational Demonstrations” based on three recent serious incidents in Nevada, Colorado, and Illinois where children were burned while observing laboratory demonstrations involving flammable liquid methanol.

The first incident described in the CSB safety bulletin is the September 3, 2014, accident at the Terry Lee Wells Discovery Museum, known as “The Discovery,” in Reno, Nevada, where thirteen people, most of them children, were injured. Two CSB investigators were deployed to the site and interviewed personnel who were directly involved. 

Just 12 days after the fire in Nevada, a second similar accident occurred on September 15th at the SMART Academy in Denver, Colorado, severely burning a 16-year-old high school student. Most recently, on October 20, 2014, less than five weeks after the incident at SMART, three Cub Scouts and one adult were injured during a demonstration using methanol at a Cub Scout event in Raymond, Illinois.

All the incidents involved demonstrations of flames – usually with a color additive – using methanol as the flammable liquid. In all three cases there was a flash back to the methanol bulk containers, and fire engulfed members of the viewing audience who were not protected by any physical barriers.

The safety bulletin notes that these incidents are similar to others the CSB has identified in which laboratory demonstrations involving flammable materials have resulted in fires and injuries. These include a 2006 accident at an Ohio high school that severely burned then-15-year-old student Calais Weber. The accident took place during a demonstration of a chemical “rainbow” that involved combusting salts with methanol. Calais’ story was described in a CSB safety video released in December 2013, called “After the Rainbow.”

The CSB found that the accident at The Discovery took place during a “fire tornado” demonstration, where salts of different elements are burned in a dish along with methanol-soaked cotton balls, while spinning on a rotating tray. This produces a colored flame that looks like a tornado. 

However, on the day of the accident the cotton failed to catch fire as expected. Additional methanol was added from a four-liter (about a gallon) bottle. CSB investigators determined that unbeknownst to museum personnel, the cotton ball was likely already smoldering, which ignited the freshly added methanol. A flash fire raced back into the large bottle - and burning methanol from the bottle sprayed toward the nearby audience of adults and children.

CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso said, “ When performed safely these kinds of demonstrations can engage students and visitors and stimulate their interest in science. But methanol, the hazardous chemical involved in The Discovery and two other recent incidents the CSB has investigated, is classified as a highly flammable liquid, and users should adopt strict safety controls.”

Methanol can ignite at room temperature and has the potential for dangerous flash fires, especially when large quantities are present. The threat is quite similar to gasoline. However, CSB investigators learned that methanol is readily sold to schools and museums in four-liter containers. 

The CSB also found that The Discovery developed the fire tornado demonstration based on YouTube video and additional online resources, where descriptions of accident risks or comprehensive safety instructions were not provided. And museum personnel who wrote procedures for the demonstration did not have an adequate background in chemistry or safety. The demonstration was performed approximately 15 feet away from museum visitors, with no barrier between the audience and the flames.

Similarly the CSB found that in the incident at SMART in Denver, the school lacked adequate safety procedures and a lab safety training program. The accident occurred during a demonstration activity of flammable properties which involved igniting a small pool of methanol to create a flame. When the flame did not rise as high as anticipated, additional methanol was added from a four-liter bulk container resulting in a 12 foot flash fire. 

The CSB found that the teacher was not aware of the potential for a methanol flash fire and had received no training about the hazards related to demonstrations involving large quantities of methanol or other flammable materials. This incident resulted in four students being burned in the flash fire, one seriously.  

Likewise the October 20, 2014, accident demonstration at a Cub Scout event in Raymond, Illinois, occurred when methanol was poured from a container onto boric acid near an open flame. Similar to other incidents, the flame propagated back into the bottle and resulted in a flash fire that burned members of the group and seriously injured one Cub Scout. Like The Discovery incident, this demonstration involved burning methanol with boric acid to produce a green colored flame.

The CSB safety bulletin outlines key lessons learned as a result of the CSB’s investigation into these incidents:

- Due to flash fire hazards and the potential for serious injuries, do not use bulk containers of flammable chemicals in educational demonstrations when small quantities are sufficient
- Employers should implement strict safety controls when demonstrations necessitate handling hazardous chemicals — including written procedures, effective training, and the required use of appropriate personal protective equipment for all participants
- Conduct a comprehensive hazard review prior to performing any educational demonstration
- Provide a safety barrier between the demonstration and the audience

Chairperson Rafael Moure-Erason said, “These key lessons, if followed, will prevent future injuries. Educators should substitute or minimize the use of flammable chemicals and perform an effective hazard review prior to conducting an educational demonstration. Safety must be the absolute priority and educators should demonstrate chemical safety concepts as well as the science topic.”

The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. The agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems.

The Board does not issue citations or fines but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA. Visit our website, www.csb.gov.