Chemicals in schools: Is safety part of the equation?
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(ARA) - When it comes to school safety and student health, our kids deserve the best protection possible. These days, schools have programs related to everything from gun violence to obesity prevention; but how safe are our nation's schools when it comes to protecting kids from dangerous chemicals?
Elementary and secondary school science labs, trade shops, janitorial areas and many other places in schools can hold dangerous chemicals that are harmful to students and faculty if they are not responsibly managed. Besides useful educational and cleaning chemicals, schools may store toxic or combustible chemicals, like mercury and gunpowder that can pose serious health risks.
Beyond the obvious health hazards, chemical spills can result in lost school days, costly cleanup and liability issues. In 2003, the District of Columbia and the Environmental Protection Agency spent more than $1.5 million to clean 250 milliliters of spilled liquid mercury discovered in a chemistry closet by a student. The school was closed for more than a month.
Fortunately, schools and knowledgeable community volunteers can take steps to significantly reduce the risk of a chemical mishap.
With help from school, community, government and industry volunteers, EPA's Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3) is making it easier for schools to clean out unneeded and potentially dangerous chemicals. The program also helps ensure that the chemicals that do remain in schools are responsibly managed by trained school staff.
Here's how it works: First, school administrators identify safe chemical management as a school health priority. Next, schools can draw from EPA Web resources, like the user-friendly chemical management toolkit to create a chemical management program that fits each school's unique needs. Schools can also call on community experts like local industry or university staff to help them out.
Community volunteers can help schools in a number of ways. Local fire and emergency departments can help school personnel develop emergency response plans. Experts from nearby colleges and universities can offer chemical management training to school employees. Local industry and business professionals can help school staff with chemical inventory, cleanout and disposal issues. Parents of K-12 students can work with school administrators to determine how responsible chemical management fits into a comprehensive school health plan.
Successful school chemical management programs are popping up all across the country. Since 2004, school staff and volunteers have removed hundreds of thousands of pounds of chemicals from K-12 schools, trained countless teachers and implemented long-term chemical management solutions.
Rehab the Lab in King County, Wash., is one of the country's leading school chemical management programs. The regional partnership brings local government agencies together to get potentially hazardous chemical accumulations out of schools. Program participants also champion long-term responsible chemical management through teacher training and curriculum changes.
Dave Waddell, one of the founders of Rehab the Lab, is happy with the program's success and sees opportunities for other schools, school districts and community volunteers to get involved. "Rehab the Lab has created a long-term partnership with more than 300 public and private schools in the greater Seattle area, which has created a much safer working environment for teachers and learning environment for students," says Waddell.
Established in 1999, Rehab the Lab has trained more than 700 science and art teachers on chemical hazards and ways to reduce present and future chemical stockpiles. In the past 10 years, the team has helped remove more than 40 tons of hazardous chemicals from King County, including 600 pounds of mercury.
Proper chemical management in schools can save money, storage space and even lives. With committed school staff, community volunteers and easy-to-use online resources, schools all over the country can take steps to make their students and employees safer.
Bruce Hayes, a Wyoming Department of Education employee, knows that the amount of time and effort it took him to get a school chemical management program off the ground in his state was well worth the effort. "The real winners here are the kids," says Hayes. "Those are the ones that are winning because we're getting environments that are far safer. And, of course, the parents' peace of mind - that's an important part of it too. They're the winners as well."
To learn more about the Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign and to see successful programs in action, watch Safe Chemical Management in Your School.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
