Safety FAQ
General Lab Safety Rules – Flinn Scientific
This useful link provides you with a general set of lab safety rules for lab activities and teacher demonstrations that can easily be adapted to your classroom. Click here for more info.
WHMIS 2015 and Consumer Products
What are the Labelling Requirements for Consumer Products in 2017? WHMIS 2015 covers a wide range of hazardous chemicals and substances (called “controlled products”), including everyday chemical products found in workplaces, such as cleaning supplies, adhesives and...
In the Blink of an Eye – Contact lenses and Lab Safety
This article by James Kaufman, of the Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI) provides an interesting summary of the myths and facts regarding contact lens safety in the lab. This article is provided with permission of LSI and was originally published in their Winter...
Hazard and Risk – How they differ
A lot of jargon is used when talking about risk and some of this can be confusing. In the discussion about chemicals, the words “risk” and “hazard” are very often used as if interchangeable. In this brochure we offer our understanding of the difference between these...
Safe Storage and Handling of Lab Chemicals – Flinn Scientific Canada
The science teacher’s duty of care for planning and designing lab activities for the science curriculum includes the responsibility for the proper storage, handling, use, and disposal of chemicals in experiments and demonstrations. The following “Top Twelve” list of...
Restricted Chemicals – Suggestions from the STAO Safety Committee
Restricted Chemicals There has been a lot of confusion generated when a select group of chemicals were listed as restricted, and special ordering procedures were initiated by the Federal government. What are restricted chemicals? To prevent their criminal use,...
Labelling Requirements for Consumer Products in 2017
WHMIS 2015 WHMIS 2015 covers a wide range of hazardous chemicals and substances (called “controlled products”), including everyday chemical products found in workplaces, such as cleaning supplies, adhesives and solvents. Although not as dangerous as other controlled...
Is there a place for 30% peroxide in High School Chemistry?
In a recent blog post, the activity Elephant's Toothpaste was demonstrated. The activity was in keeping with our STAO safety policy regarding chemical use. In that policy, we suggest the use of small quantities of chemicals, at as low a concentration as possible to...
Classification of Lasers Question to the STAO Safety Committee
Question: The STAO Safe on Science document (2011) indicates that only class 1 and class 2 lasers are recommended for use in high school science classes. Many of the documents that I have examined indicate that Class 3A (old classification), now called Class 3R (new...
Borax Slime Activity Concerns Update
Borax Advisory Update Health Canada Health Canada issued an advisory this past summer, suggesting that exposure to boron substances be reduced as much as possible from all sources. They identified boron substances as a developmental and reproductive health risk. They...
Teaching tomorrow’s teachers about lab safety – Enbridge Inc.
Supporting science . . . by stressing safety. That’s the intent of an annual lab safety workshop for teaching candidates, arranged and hosted by the Science Teachers’ Association of Ontario (STAO). Every year, volunteers from STAO—a professional non-profit educational...
Dow Lab Safety Modules
The Dow Chemical Company provides an excellent comprehensive series of lab safety modules outlined in the screenshot above. A significant portion of the content covers safety concerns in post secondary institutions, However, this resource still provides plenty of...