From: Ben Ruekberg <bruekberg**At_Symbol_Here**CHM.URI.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] "Read the SDS"
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:24:38 -0400
Reply-To: bruekberg**At_Symbol_Here**CHM.URI.EDU
Message-ID: 00fa01d3d0e8$6cca8c80$465fa580$**At_Symbol_Here**chm.uri.edu
In-Reply-To <259EBABD-1D88-4BB0-8159-C1093A20CA0E**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu>


An off the top of my head suggestion:

It seems to me that if the teaching lab procedures are online, it would be a
relatively simple matter to include links to SDSs (possibly edited to an
appropriate length). Failing that, the actual web addresses of the
relevant document could be included in the procedure. As with whether or
not a student has read even the procedure itself, you can lead a horse to
water... or a variant of Dorothy Parker's version.

On the other hand, it could be argued that this deprives students of the
opportunity to find SDSs on their own. The solution to this, after a time
of giving them the links for a while, would be to assign each student a
different SDS to print out and bring to class. This still would not
guarantee that the student reads the SDS.

Instruction as to the most useful places to look in an SDS would probably be
helpful to busy students confronted with a dozen pages of material for each
chemical. An experiment using a chemical where reading the SDS provides an
important warning or instruction, which the instructor points out before the
lab session, might encourage reading SDSs.

Thank you very much,

Ben

-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
[mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Stuart, Ralph
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 11:51 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] "Read the SDS"

I'm a little frustrated after reviewing yet another teaching lab procedure
that barely mentions any safety aspects of the work being described, but
include the equivalent of "of course, everyone who does this should read the
SDS". Advice this generic feels like a CYA disclaimer rather than anything
designed to be helpful for the reader.

While I recognize that a complete documented risk assessment is necessary
for many lab situations, I wonder if anyone has developed guidance for how
one can convert "read the SDS" to decisions about how much ventilation is
needed, personal protective equipment requirements, etc. for fairly simple
chemistries being offered to beginning chemists?

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

- Ralph


Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859

ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu

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