NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1283527
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Jan
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Chemical Spillage as a Model for Accident Causation
Stark, Moray S.; Tsokou, Aimilia M.; Howells, Alix
Journal of Chemical Education, v98 n1 p50-56 Jan 2021
Chemical spillage has been measured for undergraduate students undertaking a laboratory practical designed to help develop their chemical handling skills. There was a low correlation found between the amount of chemical spilled and the ability to accurately carry out the primary goal of the experiment, which was to measure the concentrations of samples of unknown dilution. There was also a low correlation between the amount spilled by individual students carrying out consecutive experiments, which is consistent with the proportion of spillage incidents due to personal factors (e.g., accident-prone individuals) being low. Quantitatively, only [approximately equal to]6% of the spillages could be accounted for by factors relating to the individual, with a (95%) confidence interval of 0.2-23%. These observations therefore indicate that a blame culture should be avoided when dealing with chemical spillages, and also that a more effective focus for efforts to improve laboratory safety should be on organizational or workplace factors, through, for example, improving teaching methods for all students, rather than targeting specific individuals for retraining who may have had a noticeable chemical mishap. These observations also suggest that the volume of chemical spilled by a student should not be used as a measure for summative assessment, as it is a poor predictor of future spillage.
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A