This article discusses where teachers stand from a legal point of view when pupils, who have been told to wear eye protection, take it off during the practical lesson, and an accident happens. It also discusses the disposal of dissection and other waste from animal parts used in school science. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Matthew Reilly's roundabout journey to college took a painful, decisive turn after a nighttime crash in Iraq. In 2008, six months into his first combat tour with the Army, Mr. Reilly and nine soldiers from his platoon were pursuing an insurgent when their armored fighting vehicle slammed into a roadblock. It was 2 o'clock in the morning, and fresh…

People are increasingly trying to multitask while walking. Text messaging while walking is a significant area for concern. The number of text messages sent is expected to be more than 8 trillion in 2012. Texting is becoming so commonplace that people use this technology while engaged in other activities. The dangers of multitasking have hit the…

Therapists, physicians, police officers, and emergency staff often are the messengers of bad news. They have to tell a patient, a parent, or a loved one about a death, an accident, a school shooting, a life-threatening diagnosis, a terrorist attack, or a suicide. Usually the messenger bears a heavy responsibility but has little training and seeks…

It is important that first responders remain aware of the possible hazards resulting from chemical accidents or the intentional use of chemicals in destructive devices. Chemical components can be utilized in the manufacturing of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), can enhance the effect of a more conventional device, or can pose hazards based on…

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident is a topic of current media and public interest. It provides a means to motivate students to understand the fission process and the barriers that have been designed to prevent the release of fission products to the environment following a major nuclear power reactor accident. The Fukushima Daiichi accident…

While some disasters involving engineered structures are due to events in nature (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes), others may be caused by inadequate materials, design flaws, and poor maintenance. These catastrophes result in the loss of human lives and cost billions of dollars. In the set of lessons described here, students design a…

By nearly all accounts, the staff and students at Sandy Hook Elementary School did everything right on Dec. 14--and with the security measures they took before that day--when a young man armed with powerful weapons blasted his way into the school. But the deadliest K-12 school shooting in American history, a day that President Barack Obama has…

This article presents critical outcomes for physical education in a "triage" framework by comparing the process of determining the severity of injuries at the scene of an accident to the process of prioritizing decisions in the classroom. The intent is to reduce all possible outcomes of effective teaching to six nonnegotiable outcomes…

The mental health field has long recognized the negative consequences associated with a range of traumatic events, including physical assault, sexual assault, natural or man-made disasters, accidents, and medical incidents (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). The shockingly high prevalence of exposure to violence among America's…

The nation's schools and school districts are entrusted to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for approximately 55 million elementary and secondary school students in public and nonpublic schools. Families and communities expect schools and school districts to keep children and youths safe from threats, including human-caused…

Child sexual abuse as well as accidental trauma may cause acute injuries in the anogenital area. Most data on residual findings following genital trauma come from longitudinal studies of children who have been sexually assaulted, undergone surgical procedures, or experienced accidental trauma. Like injuries in other part parts of the body, such…

Because children and adolescents are not just miniature adults, it is important to know that children might be vulnerable to injury and may not respond positively to certain types or intensities of training. It is also important to recognize how training can positively affect growth and development, so it can be judiciously applied at critical…

Providing a safe classroom and laboratory environment should be the first priority of any career-technical and technology/engineering education instructor. Doing so not only increases the opportunity for student learning, but it also keeps instructors "out of hot water" with respect to legal issues of liability. In today's litigious…

Within the past 15 years, three North American pulp mills experienced catastrophic equipment failures while using 50 wt% hydrogen peroxide. In two cases, explosions occurred when normal pulp flow was interrupted due to other process problems. To understand the accidents, a kinetic model of alkali-catalyzed decomposition of peroxide was developed.…