Making and recording risk assessments
in school science
The legislation
Under various Regulations (e.g. COSHH, The Management of Health and Safety at Work, and others)
the employer is required to undertake a risk assessment for activities done and materials used as part
of the employer’s work. The significant findings of any risk assessment must be recorded and
employees need to follow the conclusions. Communication is often by the employer providing the
employee with a copy of the written risk assessment. An employer may provide model (or generic) risk
assessments. In school and college science and D&T, most employers provide model risk
assessments produced by CLEAPSS.
Before undertaking an activity as part of work, an employee must consult relevant model risk
assessment(s).
The employee should adjust or adapt the outcomes of the model risk assessment to meet the needs of
their individual circumstances.
Risk assessment
Risk assessment describes a process and an outcome.
•
A thinking process
At all stages individuals must consider the risk assessment and its
implications. In science this may include trialing a procedure.
•
The written record that
comes from that process
The written record is both for communicating the thinking to others and
for an individual end-user to record the particular, and significant,
outcomes of her/his own adaptations to a model risk assessment. This
last point allows others to recognise that the thinking has taken place at
a sufficiently specific level of detail.
The process
•
Identify the hazards
From warning signs and symbols, general knowledge, model risk assessment, knowing the
person(s) involved, the environment (including time pressures), and those posed by unusual
circumstances.
•
Assess the risks
How likely is it that the procedure could go wrong, how serious would it be if it did go wrong, how
many people would be affected?
•
Reduce the risk by adopting control measures
It is a requirement to reduce all risks to those as low as possible which still allow the desired end to
be achieved.
For example, avoid the process altogether and cover it in theory only, substitute a safer substance,
segregate users from the event, use person protective equipment, or other measures identified on
the model risk assessment.
(See page 3 for further examples of additional hazards and control measures.)
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What you need to record
CLEAPSS believes that the significant findings of any risk assessment procedure are best recorded on
documents in daily use, such as a scheme of work, lesson plans, worksheets and technician’s notes.
•
•
•
Record on your scheme of work, etc, significant points from the model RA.
e.g.
Don’t just record “see Hazcards”, but, for example, 0.5M H2SO4, IRRITANT, see
Hazcard 98A. Wear eye protection.
or
Warn pupil about cuts from scalpels and count the scalpels out & back in.
or
To demo the radioactives, refer to the Standard Operating Procedures for the use of
radioactive sources, and keep sources secure at all times.
If you are using a published scheme with safety notes already included, then satisfy yourself that
these safety notes are authoritative and adequate. If so all you need record are any significant
alterations made in the light of your own circumstances. It is also a good idea to highlight the safety
notes in some way to draw attention to them.
e.g.
As we have altered the planned sequence of Y7 / 8 units, this is demo only.
or
Need fume cupboard, swap to chem lab 1.
or
Allow pupils to take ethanol from small bottle (not large stock bottle) only, and under
direct supervision at teacher’s bench.
If all teachers work from a common scheme of work then there may be a need for individual
teachers to record further adjustments in the light of their own personal circumstances.
e.g.
Class 9 JW can undertake this as a class experiment.
or
NQT; must have technician in room to help with this demo.
or
Avoid doing this on Tuesday as pupils are often very excited after drama lesson.
•
If teachers use individual schemes of work based on e.g. an exam syllabus then each should
annotate their own SoW with appropriate notes. The HoD should at intervals check that this
practice is not being overlooked.
•
The more common the activity and the more experienced the teacher, the less will inevitably be
written, or a form of shorthand may emerge. This is often OK. However, even for very experienced
teachers, safety notes, as described, are essential for unusual or particularly hazardous practicals,
or those undertaken in unusual circumstances, such as a science club or open evening.
•
The purposes for recording these safety notes is to ensure that individual teachers have
considered the risks associated with their own planned practical work, and to enable this
consideration to be shared among colleagues.
•
Don’t forget that if you write your own instruction sheets then these can, and will, include many of
the control measures identified by your risk assessment process.
Common examples of unsatisfactory practice
•
Notes on SoW are vague, too generalised to be useful, and do not refer to specific hazards or
sources of information, e.g. ‘Hazard - refer to CLEAPSS Handbook’.
•
Adding all sorts of risk assessments into the SoW, from a range of publications including suppliers’
safety data sheets, resulting in ‘overkill’ and confusion. This is sometimes a consequence of
individuals trying to be thorough but in fact missing the point of a risk assessment.
•
Safety notes which are way over the top, indicating a lack of real understanding of hazard and risk.
•
Safety notes on teacher’s lesson planners that are different from those on the SoW.
•
No department consistency about in which documents safety notes are recorded.
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What else you need to do
•
Warn others, technicians and pupils. Display written warnings where everybody will read them,
technician notes, pupils’ worksheets, on the whiteboard. Give oral warnings so that the intended
audience actually hears and understands them, etc.
Some examples of less obvious additional hazards which require a model risk
assessment to be adapted
The following list includes examples that have led to accidents and incidents.
•
Pupils may lack anticipated experience or expertise and also some may behave mischievously or
unpredictably. They may work more slowly than anticipated and therefore be made to rush towards
the end of a lesson.
•
Lab designs where pupils work with their backs to the teacher.
•
Open evenings, which will involve parents and other adults and children who will not be familiar with
lab rules, etc.
•
Primary / secondary liaison visits from Y5 and Y6 children who, in addition to lacking lab
experience, are too small to work comfortably at benches or to wear standard eye protection.
•
Science clubs which often have a less formal working atmosphere than a lesson.
•
Attempting exciting demonstrations in the school hall or other unusual venues.
Identifying control measures
Use more dilute solutions
Hazcards and L195, Safer Chemicals, Safer Reactions
suggest examples.
Use less (less waste as well)
Prepare a measured dose so pupils don’t take too much.
Reduce the scale of the procedure
Hazcards and L195, Safer Chemicals, Safer Reactions
suggest examples.
Use safer alternative substances
For example, synthetic crude oil or nitration of methyl
benzoate. See L195, Safer Chemicals, Safer Reactions.
Use an alternative procedure
Using beer bottle tops removes the need for expensive
porcelain crucibles that are known to crack. Using a
plastic food container as a hot water bath is often easier
and safer than a beaker heated on a tripod.
Use a fume cupboard
Hazcards are emphatic about this. A fume cupboard is
needed to avoid vapours and gases exceeding the
workplace exposure limit (WEL) in an open laboratory.
Use safety screens
See section 3 of the Laboratory Handbook.
Perform a demonstration instead of a class
activity
Beware of scaling up an experiment; it can lead to
unfortunate circumstances.
Wear eye protection (which should be the most
comfortable, if possible)
Safety spectacles are more comfortable than goggles.
But goggles are necessary for toxic or corrosive liquids.
Some particular examples:
Make sure dangerous chemicals are not
stolen.
Use mineral wool plugs to slow down the
diffusion of a gas or vapour out of a test tube.
Avoid suckback of water into very hot test tubes
using a Bunsen valve.
Magnesium ribbon or potassium chlorate(V) and, lately,
ethanol all have pupil appeal.
Use with iron / sulfur heating or the cooling curve of
stearic acid.
It does not always work though.
Use leads with shrouded plugs.
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When using a high-tension power supply
(teacher demo only).
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Tel: 01895 251496; Fax: 01895 814372; E-mail: science@cleapss.org.uk; Web site: www.cleapss.org.uk
Examples of control measurements on a technician’s request sheet (see G248)
Experiment title / reference
Testing a leaf for starch / Activity AB7.2
Equipment
Fresh soft leaves that have been in strong
light
Quantity
Comment or reference
30
Kettles
Need 4
Forceps
15
0.1 M iodine solution in dropper bottles
15
Test tubes
15
Washing up bowl
1
CLEAPSS Recipe Card no 39.
Eye protection sign
Industrial Methylated spirits
1 beaker –
approx. 200 ml.
Beakers
See Hazcard 40A.
To be used as hot water baths.
Teacher notes and
control measures for the
class
Wear safety specs. Put all test tubes in the washing up bowl at the end. Need to
count the forceps in. No Bunsens or naked flames on when the meths is being
used.
Notes to technician
including preparation
control measures
Need to put the leaves in a box 24 hours beforehand. Teachers: meths is now
called industrial denatured alcohol.
Experiment title / reference
Magnetic field lines using iron filings / Activity 7C.2
Equipment
Quantity
Comment or reference
Bar magnets
30
Iron filings in sealed transparent boxes
15
Store alternately in full trays with
keepers if possible; Section 12.22 of the
Laboratory Handbook.
E.g. petri dishes taped shut.
Teacher notes and control
measures for the class
Instruct pupils not to open the transparent boxes, as iron filings are hazardous
to the eyes.
Notes to technician
including preparation
control measures
Full trays of magnets allow teacher to check more easily that all are returned
at the end of the lesson. If magnets need remagnetising, see Section 12.22.4 of
the Laboratory Handbook.
Example of control measures as part of a worksheet
Investigating the rate of reaction of the acid thiosulfate reaction at various temperatures presents
several potential problems.
•
The large volume of thiosulfate solution used, and the waste produced, when the reaction is carried
by a class of students using conventional apparatus such as a conical flask.
•
The release of sulfur dioxide gas into the laboratory, and the prep room when the technician does
the washing up.
•
The use of Bunsen burners, etc, slows down the process so that it takes ages for pupils to obtain
readings at 5 different temperatures
By a combination of carefully considering and, where appropriate, altering the practical instructions,
and giving clear warnings, the risks are easily controlled. The annotated worksheet on the following
page illustrates this.
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The Acid / Thiosulfate Reaction
a
We
e
rot
1
10 ml of 0.05 M sodium thiosulfate solution.
1 M sulfuric(VI) acid.
3
ml
Eye protection
rule for pupils.
This method uses
about a fifth of other
published procedures.
2
ml
1
ml
Transfer 1 ml of
acid to the
thiosulfate solution
and start the clock.
Once the thiosulfate
solution is so cloudy
you cannot see the black cross
stop the clock. Note the time
Enter the results in
the table below.
Empty the contents
of the cloudy thiosulfate
vial into the
coloured stop bath.
in seconds.
Take the temperature.
1
ml
2
ml
3
ml
2
re
p
ye
n
ctio
Acid
Rinse out the vial
with water.
3
Acid
Add hot water
from the tap to
the container.
Replace the thiosulfate vial with an
empty clean vial and add another
10 ml of thiosulfate solution.
These are
polypropylene
microwave boxes with
2 holes on the top and
an inked cross on the
base.
The hazards are not
the reactants but the
sulfur dioxide
produced in the
reaction. By adding
the mixture to sodium
carbonate, sulfur
dioxide and the
hydrochloric acid are
neutralised and there
is little or no smell.
Care with hot water.
3
ml
2
ml
4
Wait 3 minutes before repeating the procedure in 2.
1
ml
Using hot water
negates the need for
Bunsen burners,
tripods and stands.
Acid
5
Try other temperatures but
never exceed 60 oC as the time is
so short it is difficult to measure.
6
Extension
Temperature
For temperatures colder than room temperature,
you need to measure the temperature BEFORE
and AFTER and take the average.
The time to go cloudy takes so long that the
temperature of the water bath starts to rise.
Time (seconds)
The procedure is so
quick that more
readings can be
obtained than in the
more traditional
method.
Dispose of all liquids down the sink.
Safe disposal of
residues.
For further information on risk assessments, see guide L196, Managing Risk Assessment in Science.
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© CLEAPSS®, The Gardiner Building, Brunel Science Park, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PQ
Tel: 01895 251496; Fax: 01895 814372; E-mail: science@cleapss.org.uk; Web site: www.cleapss.org.uk