Chemical Hazard Awareness Module

The Chemical Hazard Awareness Module is designed to be used in conjunction with a laboratory exercise that you currently use in your classroom or laboratory. We have outlined this exercise for use with Beyond Benign’s laboratory exercise “Reactions Lab” (found online here: http://www.beyondbenign.org/K12education/highschool.html). The Reactions Lab allows students to observe different types of reactions and identify the type of reaction (single displacement, double displacement, composition (synthesis), or decomposition), as well as analyze different reaction procedures for their “greenness.” The module can be adapted for use with other chemistry laboratory experiments to assess the hazards of the chemicals used.

There are many organizations that have been working to streamline and figure out a consistent way of communicating chemical hazards. However, when each group has their own set of criteria, it can be difficult to understand the level of hazard associated with a particular chemical. To address the issue, this module helps students to understand the language of chemical hazards. It is designed to be used after introducing students to Safety Data Sheets (SDSs).