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.
//_______________________________________//
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
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.
