War Stories, Undergraduate
TAs, and Hands On Training
E VO L U T I O N O F S A F E T Y A N D TA
T R A I N I N G OV E R T H E PA S T 3 0
Y E A R S I N T H E N AU C H E M I S T RY
D E PA RT M E N T
J O H N N AU M A N
L A B O R ATO RY M A N A G E R , S R
N AU C H E M I S T RY D E P T.
Evolution of Laboratory Safety and TA Training
 History of NAU Chemistry Safety and TA Training at
NAU – How do we differ from ASU and UofA?
 Current Course Design of “Laboratory Safety and
Supervision”
 Weaving War Stories Into Lab Safety Training – Some
Examples
 Hands on Aspects of Course: Laboratory Safety Audits,
and Mock Emergency Training
NAU Chemistry Department: 1981
 Fall 1981 – My First Semester at NAU as 1st Lab Mgr.
 15-20 Tenure Track Faculty who are Listed as Lab
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Instructors – TAs Never listed as Instructors.
4 Staff (1.5 Office, 1 Lab Mgr., 1 Stores, 0.5 Inst. Room)
2 GTAs
20-25 Undergraduate TAs and Stockroom Employees
20-30 Total Sections for all Lab Courses per Semester
Very Limited State Operations and Student Wages Budgets
that never really increased much in 15 years
Risk Management Lab Safety – One Person in Facilities
Nearly Everything in Chemistry Building
NAU Chemistry Department: 2014
Fall 2014 – Now 3 Lab Mgrs. (2 added last five years)
15-20 Faculty Tenure Track, Lecturers, & 4 Lab Instructors
6 Staff (2 Office, 3 Lab Mgr., 1 Stores)
8-10 GTAs
40-50 Undergraduate TAs and Stockroom Employees
~100 Total Sections for all Lab Courses per Semester
Most of Lab Program Funded by Lab Fees Including Salary
for Undergraduate Employees not GTAs
 ~60-100 Chemistry Majors per Year
 In three different building: CHM, Wettaw, Sci. Lab, New!
 EH&S 6-7 Professionals
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How Have We Attempted to Make This Work?
 History of our Safety & TA Training Program:
 Annual Saturday Morning Safety Program (lecture and fire
extinguisher training)
 1-2 hour Spring Refresher on 1st Friday of Semester
 Incorporated Skits and Mock Emergencies into training
sessions (involved 2-4 faculty)
 Created course CHM599 for undergraduate employees and
graduate students.
 Course evolved to CHM 295 and 595, Laboratory Safety an
Supervision, approved by curriculum committee early 90s.
CHM 295 & 595 – Lab Safety and Supervision
 CHM 295 and 595 is offered for 1-2 units for undergraduates
 First unit is for safety training only
 Second unit is for TA training (All TAs in training take 2 units)
 Required for all students workers in labs (not research)
 Completion of organic chemistry is required for CHM 595
 CHM 595 is a required course for all graduate students
 Often taken by students in our science teacher training
program
 Mini Course Format: first 8 weeks of semester
 Use Risk Assessment Approach in Our Labs
Safety Training
 Presentation format uses war stories, video tapes,
group exercises, hands-on activities, EH&S training,
and lecture
 Evaluation based on weekly quizzes, final, audit, and
completion of Mock Emergency Training (CPR xtra)
 Texts used include “Safety in Academic Chemistry
Laboratories” , “NAU Chemistry Department
Chemical Hygiene Plan”, and a reading packet.
 Objectives: Familiarity with lab safety concepts,
emergency response, references, department & NAU
policy and meet OSHA training requirements.
TA Training
 Some Common Training Done for All TAs - Changing
 Upper Division Labs 1-2 TAs Mostly Graduate Students
Trained Mainly by Faculty Instructor for Lab
 For General and Organic Chemistry Labs (multiple
sections) TAs are required:
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Shadow a Lab Section before their section or the semester before
Attend All Required TA Meetings
Complete a Weekly Workbook
Course Schedule
 First week: EH&S Chemical Hygiene Training,
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Essential Lab Safety and Emergency Response
Week 2: Hazard Codes, Labels, SDS, Group Exercise
Weeks 3-5 Fire Safety, Chemical and Hazardous
Waste Management, Toxicology, Lab Procedures,
Laboratory Safety Audit
Week 6: Mock Emergency Training
Week 7: Special Lab Hazards and Procedures
Week 8: Safety and TA Finals
Group Formation
 Groups of 4-6
students
 Composition of
groups is based on
chemistry
background and
Personality
 Groups work
together throughout
the course
Standard Lab Safety Class Format
 Hand back and go over quiz from previous week
 Nearly Every quiz with have Emergency Response and
Prevention question applying war story.
 Short Lecture over topic(s)
 Group work applying to lecture focus
 Video, tour to see safety stuff or more lecture
 Quiz
Example War Stories and Lessons
 My Stupid Run In With Sulfuric Acid and Lessons
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Learned
Sodium Amide Incident
Nitric Acid and Ethanol Explosion and Hazardous
Waste Collection
Methyl Methacrylate Explosion and Chemical Storage
Breaking 2.5L Bottles of Conc. HCl and Transporting
Chemicals
Recent – Nitrile Glove Incident(s)
Laboratory Safety Audit
 Each student conducts
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audit
If possible students
check areas where they
work
Chemical inventory is
done as part of audit
10% of student’s grade
is base on audit
Resulting audit and
inventory very useful
Mock Emergency Training
 Mock emergencies are setup and run by past
students in the course, faculty and staff, risk
management staff, and campus security
 Student groups rotate through 4-6 emergency
scenarios over 2-3 hour period.
 Each scenario is as real as possible to allow students
to practice their emergency response skills
 Scenarios also allow for participants to review
causes and prevention of lab emergencies
Schedule for Each Scenario
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Organize in lecture room
Walk to scene
Assess scene (5-10 sec.): safe to help, scope of problem
Initial Response (30 seconds): evacuate lab, put out fire,
notify security, evacuate building, CPR, first aid
Manage Scene (up to 5 minutes): witnesses, EMS, MSDS,
scene control, TLC
Scenario ends and group look for causes and prevention
Critic by victims and observers, do participant notes
Return to lecture room
Participant Roles for Mock Emergency Training
Class Responding Groups
Students, Faculty and Staff
 Team leader
 Person to notify campus
 Victims – folks simulating
security (EMS)
 Observer – fills out
“Record of Safety
Incidence”
 Other group members
 Each group member must
rotate through each of the
roles above
injuries or conditions of
some sort.
 Bystanders – folks who
scream or just confuse the
scene.
 Observers – people not
part of the scene who
evaluate the response of
each group
Scenarios
 Chemical Contact
 Fire
 Peroxide Explosion
 Toxic Chemical Spill
 Stroke or Heart Attack
 Seizure
Schedule of Scenarios
Times
6-6:30
6:30-7
7-7:30
7:30-8
8-8:30
404
1
2
3
4
Debrief
418
2
3
4
1
303
3
4
1
2
326
4
1
2
3
Mock Emergency Training Objectives
 Provide hands-on experience for class members
 Fun review of safety for student employees who have
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taken the course
Provide safety training for faculty and staff
Heighten general safety awareness in department
Foster cooperation between our department, risk
management, and campus security
Buy in and focus on lab safety (video example)
Thanks to:
 Faculty and staff of our chemistry department
 Past class members and student employees
 EH&S Staff
 Facilities Staff for doing CPR-AED training
 Questions?