We have been providing both gloves and safety goggles to our students.

 

Latex or nitrile gloves are placed in the laboratory for those students who choose to use them.  Less than 50% choose to do so.

 

Although students are supposedly required to review each experiment in advance and to look up information on the hazards and handling of each chemical they will use in the experiment, there is not uniform adherence to this, nor do all students do a satisfactory job.  Therefore, at the beginning of each experiment, I review all the potentially hazardous chemicals that will be used during the experiment along with some reminders for the proper handling of those chemicals, what to do  in the event of skin contact, and proper disposal. If I believe that gloves are necessary for any procedure, I will require them, otherwise, it is the students' choice. However, at this time, I cannot say that all our laboratory instructors do the same - that will be changing in the near future.

 

We also supply safety goggles for students.  They are stored in a UV safety goggle cabinet.  Lens cleaner and soft tissue paper (Kim-Wipes or equivalent) are provided.  Not every instructor turns on the UV sterilization  lamp after every lab.  We do have student lab aides, but they do not always remember to turn on the sterilization lamp. (Another practice I intend to change.)

 

All these supplies have been paid for by laboratory fees.  In the current economic climate, however, the current lab fees will not cover the costs of all these materials.  We just replaced all the safety goggles with new ones in all our laboratories.  We have made a decision that starting in the Fall semester, students must purchase their own safety goggles. (Available in the bookstore.)  Should a student forget to bring their goggles to the laboratory, they can use those that we have available, but we will not be restocking those goggles in the future.  As a result, our current lab fees will cover the other materials such as gloves, lens cleaner, and tissues along with normal breakage of glassware.

 

The local university has a student affiliate chapter of the ACS, and they sell safety goggles and laboratory notebooks to the students.  That's part of their fund raising for the year.  As a Community College, we do not have a student affiliate chapter and we have decided that we are not set-up to go into the goggle business, nor do we have the necessary security to handle the money involved.  

 

If your lab fees do not cover the cost of gloves, breakage, and other consumables that are not covered by your departmental laboratory budget, then you should consider a modest increase in your lab fee.

 

David Katz

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  David A. Katz             
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