Chemistry involves exposure to hazardous chemicals, but exposure can be managed by keeping it below recognized limits and informing workers of risks. While universities produce chemists for industry, government, and academia, textbooks often omit teaching students how to safely handle concentrated acids/bases and toxic chemicals. This misses opportunities to explain dilution, hazard assessments, risk evaluations, and safe waste disposal. Instructors should introduce concepts like hazard, risk management, and chemical substitution to help students respect chemical risks and safely handle hazardous materials as future professionals.

1. Chemistry is not a “Zero
Exposure” Occupation
Harry J. Elston, Ph.D., CIH
Midwest Chemical Safety, LLC
Dawson, IL

2. “Chemistry is not a zero-exposure occupation.
You are not entitled to zero exposure. You are
entitled that your exposure be kept below
recognized occupational exposure limits and to be
informed of the hazardous properties of the
materials with which you work.”

3. Producers and Consumers
 Colleges and Universities are
manufacturers of a product
 Who are the consumers?
 Industry – Research, QA/QC, etc.
 Government – Environmental,
Transportation, Law Enforcement…
 Academia – graduate and professional
schools

4. What the Consumer Wants on Day 1:
 Basic chemical calculations
 Basic chemical manipulations
(dilutions, distillations, prepare
solutions, etc.)
 Has basic understanding of hazard
(acids/bases are corrosive, cyanides
are toxic…)

5. Day 1:
 Basic understanding of safe waste
management (don’t mix organics with
nitric acid, waste segregation, etc.)
 Basic understanding (and respect) for
risk management
 Can put the risk equation together:
Risk = hazard x P(exposure)
 Has respect for chemical hazards, but
not fear

6. A completely unscientific survey
for this presentation
 Reviewed GenChem and Organic Chem
textbooks and lab manuals from 4
undergrad institutions

7.  What I consider are problems:
 Lab manuals never had the student make dilutions
from concentrated stock acids/bases
 Labs have removed use of toxic material for
separations (CS2, carbon tetrachloride,
dichloromethane, cyanides in qual schemes, etc.)
 Reasons for chemical substitution are not
explained
 PPE is prescribed but not explained. No risk
assessment is performed.
 No hazard assessments or risk evaluations shown

8. Missing teachable moments
 Dilutions and chemical manipulations
 Understanding risk information
 MSDS/SDS (a starting place)
 Interpreting MSDS/SDS in light of
concentration
 Other toxicology information
 Interpreting conflicting tox data
 Safely working with hazardous/highly
hazardous material (like they will when they
graduate)

9. Leading from the front (of the
classroom or lab)
 Introducing “hazard” to students
 In “pre-lab” exercises:
 “Hazard” is an inherent property of the
chemical
 “Hazard” is reduced by dilution
 Talk about choice of chemicals used
 In the classroom
 Introduce industrial chemical use

10. Leading from the front
 Risk and Risk Management
 What is risk?
 Risk (consequence) = Hazard x P(exposure)
 Balance hazard/exposure to keep risk
acceptable
 Introduce to the student the “whys”
 Chemical substitution (hazard)
 SOP/PPE (exposure)
 Risk assessment tools at higher levels

11. Leading from the front
 In the lab
 Handling hazardous chemicals/waste
safely
 Keep risk perspective – make it part of
the pedagogy
 Make working safely part of the
evaluation
 Reward those who work safely, penalize
those who are demonstratively unsafe