Lab Safety: Chemistry

 Treat lab safety seriously.  Let’s make sure your kiddo understands standard lab practices.   Post this Free Poster  and watch The Amoeba Sisters’ Lab Safety Video, video worksheet, and key  We have a fire extinguisher and  aid kit by the basement sink, which is also an eye-wash station.  I keep a bin of safety glasses on the lab bench.  We have a coffee can we use as a sharps’ bin, such as broken glass.  In fact, we have a dust pan and broom to sweep up broken glass.  HST’s Chemical Safety at Home is an excellent guide, which includes the GHS Pictograms and Safety Data Sheets or SDS.   Here is an example of a SDS for phenolphthalein, an indicator solution.  Many, many high schools use Flinn’s Safety Contracts.  We have both students and their parents sign these agreements and retain copies for our records. Yesterday, the first thing we did in class was to go over safety.  I found my Math Pretest and Lab Safety Quiz.  They were scanned and saved; the type-face is tiny.  (I wrote the quiz based on personal experience—with a little exaggeration!) Flinn’s YouTube Channel has lab safety videos.  Finally Flinn has a Lab Safety test (and key).  Let’s pray there are no accidents!