Developing Risk Assessment Competencies in Preservice K–12 Teachers

Abstract

In 2015, “NFPA 45, Standard on Fire Protection for Laboratories Using Chemicals,” from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) was updated to include language requiring educators to perform a documented risk assessment when conducting demonstrations in K–12 classrooms. Additionally, in the past five years numerous organizations have created new materials to educate teachers about risk-based chemical safety. Despite efforts to disseminate chemical safety information and improve standards, incidents with student injuries continue to occur in educational K–12 laboratories. Because there is now an established expectation for teachers to perform hazard analysis and risk assessment prior to classroom implementation of demonstrations or experiments, chemical safety education to promote meaningful subject learning is needed for preservice science teachers. This paper describes implementation mechanisms and developed content on chemical safety and risk assessment that can be added to a methods course for undergraduate secondary education majors. These ideas are based on combining two established safety systems: RAMP and Five Key Questions to ask and answer.