From: Monona Rossol <actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Colorado methanol fire case
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 21:00:35 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 8D1BE063817AC71-12C4-9DBA**At_Symbol_Here**webmail-vm171.sysops.aol.com
In-Reply-To <002401cfefdb$a4bbc880$ee335980$**At_Symbol_Here**midwestchemsafety.com>


This guy didn't have even that initial license.  It will be interesting to see just how much education he actually had.
 
Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President:  Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012     212-777-0062
actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com   www..artscraftstheatersafety.org

 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Harry Elston <helston**At_Symbol_Here**MIDWESTCHEMSAFETY.COM>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Fri, Oct 24, 2014 7:51 pm
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Colorado methanol fire case

Why wasn=E2=80™t the educator taught fundamental laboratory safety?  The answer to that is simple, Leslie:
 
Colorado does not require an academic major in the subjects being taught.   From the Colorado Department of Education site on initial licensure of teachers:
 
An Initial Teacher License requires that an applicant submit his/her legal name, address and social secuirty number. Once these criteria are met, an initial license may be issued to an applicant who (among other things, HJE):
=B7         Has demonstrated professional competencies in the subject areas by completing 24 semester hours of course credit as demonstrated through transcript evaluation, or passage of the Colorado State Board of Education-approved content assessment relevant to the area of endorsement sought.
 
Yes - that's right - 24 hours in your area of "endorsement."  The last time I checked, Gen Chem/Organic with labs was 16 of those hours.  Fill that up with courses like "Seminar" and "Environmental chemistry" or "Chemistry for educators" and you can get 24 hours pretty quickly. 
 
I was none-too-pleased about this when I wrote the March/April 2014 JCHAS editorial.
 
Harry
 
 
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Leslie Coop
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2014 1:34 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Colorado methanol fire case
 
Perhaps someone should ask the school he went to why he wasn't taught chemical safety procedures.
 
 
 
On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Ralph Stuart <rstuartcih**At_Symbol_Here**me.com> wrote:
I was struck the story in this morning's headlines that the Former Colorado Teacher was charged  with four counts of third-degree assault, a Class 1 misdemeanor in the methanol demonstration lab explosion that occurred last month.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/10/22/former-teacher-charged-in-lab-explosion-that-injured-students/

This seems much more likely to set a precedent than the UCLA fire, which was based on labor law specific to California. I hope that people who are in Colorado will let us know how this case proceeds, as it's not uncommon for these stories to fall off the press's radar.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart
rstuartcih**At_Symbol_Here**me.com



--
Leslie Coop, MS, CCHO, CHMM
Chemical Hygiene Officer/ Stockroom Manager
Willamette University - 900 State Str - Salem, Oregon 97301

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