An analysis of Incident/Accident Reports from the Texas secondary school science safety survey, 2001

School Science and Mathematics, Oct 2003 by Stephenson, Amanda L, West, Sandra S, Westerlund, Julie F, Nelson, Nancy C

Factors Contributing to Incidents and Accidents

The factors contributing to incidents and accidents are summarized in Table 4. The participants were free to select more than one contributing factor. The top two contributing factors related to classroom management. Forty-one percent of the 81 respondents reported that the students' "failure to follow instructions" contributed to the accidents in their classrooms, and 36% reported that "student misbehavior" was a contributing factor.

Similarly, Macomber (1961) and Krajkovich (1983) found that horseplay in the laboratory resulting from inadequate classroom discipline is a contributing factor to accidents. Having good classroom management is crucial to maintaining a safe classroom, laboratory, and field setting for hands-on science activities. Classroom discipline must be enforced early on by the teacher, school, and the district, maintaining rules and consequences if those rules are broken.

Several factors contributing to mishaps involving science equipment and facilities were identified. "Faulty or inadequate equipment" was reported by 12% as one contributing factor, "unsafe room design" by 7%, "failure to wear goggles" by 6%, and "non-science room" by 4% of the participants.

Nine percent reported that "inadequate procedures," or instructions, were a cause of mishaps. Only 1% of the respondents reported that "inadequate teacher safety training" was a factor contributing to incidents and accidents.

Safety Training

The survey respondents were asked if they had any safety training within the last year. Most of the respondents, 62%, said they had some type of safety training in the last year (Table 5). However, 35% of teachers in the study did not have any type safety training within the last year.

Safety training of teachers is required by federal law in the Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA 29CFR 1910.1450) in states choosing to comply with OSHA regulations (OSHA, 1991). However, even those under state law, in all states except Missouri, safety training of teachers is required (Flinn, 2002). Furthermore, many studies have shown that many teachers across the United States have not been trained in safety (Gerlovich, et al., 2001; Krajkovich, 1983). Teachers who have safety training have fewer accidents in their classrooms (Ward & West, 1990). It is imperative that all districts provide adequate annual safety training for teachers in order to ensure that they understand safety policies and procedures.

Written Safety Policy

The participants were asked if their science department had a written safety policy. Although 69% of teachers were aware of written safety policies, 25% of the teachers said that their science department did not have a written safety policy (Table 6). The lack of department level policies may indicate a lack of written safety policies at the district level. Many states have regulations that meet the OSHA and/or state right-to-know requirements concerning this issue. Such regulations require that the employer develop a written safety policy, and each employee should be trained as to its contents. State right-to-know laws consist of written hazard assessment procedures, material safety data sheets (MSDS), labels and warnings, and employee training (Gerlovich, 1997; Reat, 1996). Laboratories must have a written Chemical Hygiene Plan that must be updated annually (OSHA, 1991). Districts not having these written policies in place are in violation of the either the state or federal requirements.