Improper Lab Safety Procedures

Name______Date______Identifying Improper Lab Behavior

Directions: The following 6 scenarios are occurring during an exciting day in the chemistry classroom. Read through the following scenarios and identify which behaviors are inappropriate for a lab setting, then underline those inappropriate behaviors. On the back of this sheet, check the behaviors off on the checklist.

At lab station #1, Bob has piled his books and papers on his workbench where he is going to be working with a burner and acids. He and his friend, Preston, decide to kick a hackeysack around while the other lab partners set up the experiment. Julie takes the stopper out of the bottle of acid and lays it on the table. Lauren is pouring acid into a beaker, but has nothing to protect her clothing. Preston carefully measures the required amount of acid into a beaker; then pours in the specified quantity of water.

At lab station #2, Don and Samantha are working together on a procedure that calls for heating a substance in a test tube. Don measures out too much of the chemical he is going to be using so he pours the excess back into the reagent bottle. As Samantha heats the test tube, she keeps the middle of the tube in the flame of the burner. The open end is pointed directly at her lab partner, Don. Jennifer is wearing a particularly attractive blouse with large puffy sleeves. As she reaches for a reagent, her arm passes over her burner. Her sleeve is on fire! What do we do?

Jerry didn’t quite finish his lunch before the bell rang. As he sits at Lab Station #3, he lays half a sandwich on his workbench. He takes bites from it as he works on his experiment. Randall forgot which chemicals he put in his beakers, so he picks one up and sticks it under his nose to take a big sniff in hopes of remembering. Joanna is heating diluted acid in a cracked beaker and her partner, Thang, test the temperature of the solution with his finger to see if it is hot enough.

Daniel has been transferring dry chemicals a pinch at a time using his fingers at Lab Station #4. Now he’s rubbing his eye with his finger. As Tammy reaches for a chemical, her beautiful, dangling bracelets hang on the bottle of acid that is on her workbench and turn it over. The acid spills and runs of the bench onto Dave’s foot. He is wearing flip-flops. Michelle wipes up the acid with some paper towels and tells Dave that is foot will be fine if he dries it off well.

The procedure calls for dilute acid. As Jon pours his acid at Lab Station #5, a little splashes into his face close to his unprotected eyes. Chad has gotten thirsty so he draws water into a beaker and is drinking from it. With time growing short, Joshua, is his rush to finish, opens the gas valve on the workbench and then searches for a striker to ignite his burner. When he can’t find one handy, he strikes a match to ignite the burner. A fireball singes his eyebrows, but the burner is lit, so he throws the burned match in the sink.

Students at Lab Station #6 finished early, so Leslie decides to do a little experimenting on her own by mixing a few things together to see what will happen. Carey helps to clean up by brushing some spilled chemical off the counter and onto the floor with her hands. She then brushes her hands against her shorts to clean them. Rushing to put things away, Clay grabs the cord to the hot plate and jerks the plug from the wall socket. Name______Directions: Carefully read through scenarios 1 – 6 and underline the unsafe laboratory practices that are occurring. Use the table below to check off the unsafe practices for each scenario. Place an X in the blank for each unsafe practice occurring for each scenario. Scenario # Unsafe Practice 1 2 3 4 5 6 Unsafe storage of materials

Contaminating reagent containers

Touching chemicals with unprotected hands

Improper use/handling of equipment

Non-use of personal safety equipment (goggles, apron, gloves, etc.) Improper clothing

Eating/drinking in the laboratory

Not reporting accidents to the teacher

Incorrect dilution of acids

Smelling chemicals directly instead of “wafting” Unauthorized experimentation/working alone

Not knowing location of emergency safety equipment Use of cracked/chipped glassware

Improper cleanup of chemical spills

Improper disposal of materials

Horseplay in the laboratory

Not keeping hands away from mouth/eyes

Not washing hands when contaminated and at the end of experiment/cleanup