Sue Wiediger, Chair

With a vision of education that embeds accurate chemical safety instruction at all educational levels, and a mission to provide resources and strategies to chemical and science educators in order to prepare chemists and others to function safely while using chemicals, the DivCHED Safety Committee welcomes anyone interested in safety education. We meet in conjunction with each National Meeting. If you are interested in safety education and interested in getting involved, you are welcome to attend our committee meetings, or contact the Committee co-chairs and we will try to connect you with appropriate people and projects.

Members of the Safety Committee work on a range of projects at the intersection of safety and education. These include collaborative projects with other components of the ACS, always with a focus on bringing the education perspective to safety issues, and the safety perspective to educational issues.

A consistent theme of several projects recently completed or in-progress – from the recent JCE publication about a protocol for case study review, or the college safety videos, or the online materials about chemical management for high school teachers – is different ways that RAMP can guide and assist with safety and safety education. We hope that everyone reading this newsletter is aware of the framework represented by this acronym:

• Recognize Hazards
• Assess Risks
• Minimize Risk
• Prepare for Emergencies

This acronym has found broad applicability and acceptance within the ACS as a useful tool to guide safety assessments. While it does not replace the many different safety assessment methods that are in use for different purposes, throughout projects sponsored by many levels and many groups within the ACS, RAMP is being used as a basic analysis tool.

The Safety Committee welcomes the idea of symposia at national and regional meetings about safety in education. We are sponsoring a symposia at the Fall 2022 ACS meeting; if you are interested in organizing a safety symposia contact Sue Wiediger (swiedig@siue.edu) or Dave Finster (dfinster@wittenberg.edu) if interested. Some of our members have also presented at regional meetings and we are open to sharing some of those materials if you are developing programming for your area. If there is something you have particular need or interest in, please reach out to the Safety Committee to share your thoughts.