As a high school teacher in the 1980s, I did not allow any headware because most experiments used bunsen burners (safety). The students option was to sit out the lab work and received no grade. No parent or principal conferences were needed.
As former water treatment supervisor, I have asked employees about headware and any clothing issues, that I felt compromising their safety, other empolyees safety and lab liability. I never had to go to Human Resources to resovle the issues, somehow the employees and I resovled the issue.
Jim Julion
Former HS Chemistry/Physics Teacher
Retired Water Chemist Supervisor
On 08/30/2022 4:09 PM Nora Dunkel <noradunkel51**At_Symbol_Here**webster.edu> wrote:
Does anyone have guidance on wearing hats in lab? An instructor for sophomore organic chemistry at my institution reports that a student has repeatedly come to lab wearing a cowboy hat. The student is otherwise appropriately dressed, but we wonder about visibility (will the student's peripheral vision be obstructed?), whether people might bump into the hat, and whether the hat might knock over glassware. (It's a pretty crowded room when everybody is setting up their apparatus.)
Is this something others have encountered? Are hats in lab acceptable from a safety perspective?
Nora Dunkel, CHMM
Chemical Safety Officer--Webster University
ISB/Browning Hall 314
314-246-2244 (desk)
661-348-1445 (cell)
noradunkel51**At_Symbol_Here**webster.edu
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