Society at large often incorrectly thinks that the word 'chemicals' implies danger, when of course all matter can be described as a chemical. In this article we define what precisely we mean by 'hazard', risk' and 'danger'; we then consider selected elements from the periodic table that are noteworthy because of their dangerous characteristics.

This paper describes the course outline for a three credit hour nonlaboratory course in Environmental Health Chemistry which was taught from 1981 until 2008 at the State University of New York College at Oneonta. The purpose of this paper is to share the lecture outline in the hopes that it might be useful to others who are preparing to teach…

RAMP is an acronym for the process "recognize hazards, assess risk, minimize risk, and prepare for emergencies". This paper describes these four steps in the context of undergraduate instruction about chemical health and safety.

With the advancements in broad-spectrum sunscreens and the recent bans on benzene-based sunscreens due to their environmental toxicity, there has been a push toward broad-spectrum sunscreens containing in organic active ingredients. In this study, a procedure was developed to analyze the particle size and size distribution of inorganic active…

Awareness of best safety practices in the industrial sector will allow students in chemistry and chemical engineering programs to apply these approaches to their own safety assessments. Process safety is a critical function within the pharmaceutical industry to ensure safety when performing reactions. An introduction to process safety and a series…

With the rapid growth in the manufacturing industry and increased urbanization, higher amounts of composite material waste are being produced, causing severe threats to the environment. These environmental concerns, coupled with the fact that undergraduate students typically have minimal experience in research, have initiated the need at the UAE…

Chemicals used in academic teaching laboratories, research institutions, and industrial facilities are mostly dual-use chemicals. They provide many desired benefits but at the same time may cause adverse effects to human health and environments. In the case of Somalia, there are gaps in terms of chemical security (CS) awareness and…

At many universities, silver nitrate is used in teaching laboratories, and a resulting waste product is often silver chloride. Silver chloride is not a compound that can be discarded into a sink as it has harmful effects to the environment; however, commercial waste disposal is costly, and replacement of the silver nitrate reagent is expensive.…

Selecting less hazardous chemicals is a core tenet of green chemistry but is difficult to teach in practice. The upper-year undergraduate or graduate level exercise described here empowers students to make such decisions themselves. Students are tasked with finding the greenest chemical for a specific purpose described in a hypothetical scenario,…

The ability to handle chemicals safely is a key aspect of the learning development of students studying chemistry; however, there have been no previously reported investigations of the quantity of chemicals spilled by students during lab experiments. Therefore, the first part of this article reports the assessment of the volume of chemicals…

For the last seven years, an interdisciplinary course known as "Greener Solutions", offered by the University of California, Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, has brought together graduate students in chemistry, environmental health, and engineering to understand each other's disciplines, and to work together to develop safer…

The chemistry behind practical special effects in the film and television industry is discussed, along with examples of commonly used chemical demonstrations that simulate them in the laboratory. (Contains 3 figures.)

Two graphic holistic metrics for assessing the greenness of synthesis, the "green star" and the "green circle", have been presented previously. These metrics assess the greenness by the degree of accomplishment of each of the 12 principles of green chemistry that apply to the case under evaluation. The criteria for assessment…

Research advancements into different fields of study have increased the risks for accidents, criminal acts, or a potential breach of national security, and the types of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) stored and used at universities and colleges are under new scrutiny. Before, a chemistry laboratory might only have basic substances such as sulfur,…

THIS BULLETIN, ONE OF A SERIES ON SAFETY IN INDUSTRY, IS INTENDED TO PROVIDE THE BACKGROUND WHICH WILL ENABLE THE SAFETY MAN TO UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE PRINCIPLES APPLIED IN CONTROLLING CHEMICAL HAZARDS. IT WAS PREPARED IN THE OFFICE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, DIVISION OF PROGRAMING AND RESEARCH, BUREAU OF LABOR STANDARDS. TOPICS INCLUDE (1) WHAT IS…