Current Projects
Schools Chemicals Database
Teachers, educators, administrators or facility managers that have laboratories are using the School Chemical List to evaluate the hazards of pure chemical compounds or chemical constituents they have in stock.
This on-line tool is for anyone who needs information to assess risks and inventory chemicals. With the easy search tool you can find the chemical by name, the exposure and safety hazards, environmental toxicity, and the common experiments that might use the chemical. The information can be quickly converted to an Excel file for on site use.
Rehab the Lab
The data was originally collected to help secondary schools inventory and safely store or dispose of chemicals through the Rehab the Lab program. Schools had accumulated numerous unneeded hazardous chemicals that were stored in science class stockrooms, photo labs, the arts and crafts workshop or custodial closets. Clearing out these overlooked chemicals helps reduce serious health, environmental and liability risks:
- Many chemicals and their containers degrade over time.
- Many of these chemicals pose serious risks to teachers, students and the environment.
- Eliminating old chemical stockpiles can be costly.
- Reducing hazardous waste generation reduces regulatory oversight and disposal costs.
- Improving chemical storage practices, especially of incompatible chemicals, increases work site safety.
- Improper disposal has the potential of serious fines.
Healthy Schools Project
The Healthy Schools Project is revisiting schools. An important goal is to ensure that mercury, which is illegal in schools, is no longer present. Inspectors are checking that participating Rehab the Lab schools continue to:
- Purchase fewer high-risk chemicals.
- Improve their hazardous chemical handling, storage and disposal practices.
- Adopt curricula that require less hazardous chemicals.
- Are using only small amounts at very low concentrations when hazardous chemicals are required for experiments.
Resources
To assist administrators and instructors, lesson plans are also available: Safe Labs That Don't Pollute, includes several Least-Toxic Chem Labs. View 6 Chemical safety videos.
The project is paid for and staffed by the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County. Contact Dave Waddell dave.waddell@kingcounty.gov, 206-263-3069 for more information.
