Occupational health and safety

Use of Liquid Nitrogen: Are there any restrictions to using liquid nitrogen in school laboratories? If appropriate storage is sourced and safety procedures are followed, can teachers perform liquid nitrogen demonstrations?

Potassium dichromate in the determination of alcohol content in wine: A prac for the determination of alcohol content in wine has been suggested for our Year 12 chemistry students. The prac asks for 0.04 M K₂Cr₂O₇. Is this solution okay for the students to use? I have viewed the MSDS for potassium dichromate and am also wondering about the fertility and other health risks to the lab technician in preparation of these solutions. Thanks.

Chemical Safety: Hello. I would just like to ask what chemicals can be stored safely together.

In a chemical storeroom, as in which classes can be put together. Thank you.

Laboratory ventilation: What are the standards for laboratory ventilation?

Our laboratories now have re-circulating air conditioning and only small, high, windows that are inaccessible unless on a ladder. There are also no screens, so, if the windows are open, many mosquitos enter. We also have a photocopier, washer, dryer, dishwasher and workshop in the prep area with no exhaust fans or fresh air.

Legal temperature for the chemical storeroom in schools: I would like to know if there is a legal requirement for the temperature that a chemical storeroom should be kept at. With these high temperatures in Canberra, I have been tracking the temperature of our chem storeroom and am finding that it goes from 22 degrees up to 28.5 in just one day. I believe this is not good enough, with the variety of chemicals we store, and I thought I read somewhere that it should be about 20 +or- 2 degrees.

Would love to know what you can tell me.

PVA Slime: There was a directive that came out from Education Queensland to all HODs in 2004/2005 regarding students not being permitted to take any slime made at school home. I no longer can find our school's copy of that directive. I guess its lost. Can you advise if this directive is still current?

Lab Safety—sitting during practicals: Do you know if it is a legal requirement for there to be no sitting at benches during school science experiments please? Would appreciate a link to this if you know of any such law.

Van de Graaff generator and electronic medical devices: The Science ASSIST Standard Operating Procedure for demonstrating the Van de Graaff generator has in its safety notes to ensure that anyone who has an electronic insulin pump should not be in the vicinity of the generator.

We have a teacher who has had a pump for about 5 years and frequently operates the VDG so far without incident. Do you have any more information about the risks involved, the type of pumps involved, the make of pump, anything that could make it safe for him?

Chemicals in schools (formaldehyde, melamine and cyanuric acid): Can someone please tell me if we can use formaldehyde (37%), melamine or cyanuric acid for IB individual design experiments in schools in Victoria? Thanks.

Use of antibiotics (amoxycil) in experiments: Our Year 12 Biology classes do an EEI (Extended Experimental Investigation) looking at the effect of antimicrobials on bacteria. We have had a student request to use amoxycil in her experiment. Are their any rules for the use of antibiotics?