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Subject: News Item on Lab Explosion
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 06:24:09 -0500
Author: "Wood-Black, Frankie K" 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: Respirators on High School Kids
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 12:00:41 -0400
Author: vance


Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 07:43:16 -0400
Reply-To: List Moderator <esf**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: List Moderator <esf**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Subject: Re: Hold on a minute, Dr. E.

	From: 	  ACTSNYC**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com
	Subject: 	Re: [DCHAS-L] Hold on a minute, Dr. E.
	Date: 	October 5, 2006 4:29:36 PM EDT

 >I believe this discussion is about use of respirators and the like  
in secondary school activities.  There, OSHA regulations have little  
presence and the driving force is doing it right to protect the  
students, avoid
litigation, and perhaps even teach them something about good practice.

If you mean by "good practice" letting high school students put on  
masks without knowing about and following the rules that apply in the  
adult world, then I take issue.  And with the large number of  
asthmatics in schools today, and undiagnosed heart problems in  
occasional students, medical certification is a must.

The worst thing about this idea is schools that do this are adding  
their students to the numbers of uneducated members of the public who  
will go to the hardware store for a mask when they are doing some  
hazarous household or hobby task.  They'll buy a mask for the wrong  
contaminant, that doesn't fit properly, and wear it past expiration  
while thinking they are protected.

Or worse yet, the students will graduate and get a job with some  
unscrupulous employer who hands them the wrong mask without proper  
fit testing and training and they'll be too uneducated to know that  
their rights have just been trampled on.

I deal with dozens of people who are injured by this practice every  
year.  They are always amazed to learn that they are supposed to be  
fit tested, certified and trained to wear them properly.  They should  
have learned this in high school along with basic hazard  
communication, and the lot.

Monona Rossol

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