Re: Science Lab Rooms in Middle Schools
Comments from someone who in a previous life permitted hazmats at middle and high schools:
For the most part, middle and high-school chemistry labs are no where near as problematic as university chemistry departments. First, reagent grade chemicals are expensive, so independant school districts (ISDs) don't like spending the large dollars for these chemicals. Secondly, waste disposal costs can sometimes be more than the costs of the chemicals themselves. Third, the hazards of some the chemicals in many cases outweighs the educational benefit to the junior and senior high level students.
What your going to find in most every middle and high school is very small amount of aromatic solvents (flammable liquids), some acids and bases (corrosives) and salts (generally nonhazardous but may be Class I or II solid oxidizers). You'll find some benign metals like mercury, zinc, aluminum. In the compressed arena, they may have nitrogen and oxygen and small amounts of propane or a similar fuel gas. For the most part, that's about all you will find, based on my 20 years experience dealing with my local ISD. Even the magnet schools want to avoid most hazmats for all of the reasons I stated. The amounts in storage and use have never even approached 50% of the MAQ values in IBC Tables 307.1(1) and 307.1(2).
You can easily solve code compliance by having the ISD prepare a decent HMIS and using approved cabinets to store the hazardous materials. Most of the experiments the students do these days focus on the basics of the physical states, ideal gas law, heat transfer, and simple experiments of how chemical bonds are made and broken. The days of using reagent sodium in an experiment are gone (which was one of those turning points in my life).
Now if your dealing with the University of Texas at Austin Welch Hall, the UT Pickle Semiconductor Research Laboratory, or UT Moffett Biosciences Research Center, send me a private mail because these facilities require a far more detailed analysis.
