Critical Safety Incidents

Vol. 4 Iss. 1
The Chemical Educator
© 1999 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

ISSN 1430-4171
http://journals.springer-ny.com/chedr
S 1430-4171(99)01279-6

Critical Safety Incidents. A videotape prepared by the Learning and Teaching Centre, University of Victoria, Canada. Videotape and 8-page guidebook. $60 (Canadian) in Canada, $65 (US) for U.S. and foreign orders.

This brief videotape deals with a fire in the Chemistry Department at the University of Victoria (Canada), and its aftermath. The videotape was prepared by members of the Learning and Teaching Centre and the Chemistry Department at Victoria, recognizing that the lessons to be learnt would be widely applicable, and that basing a safety videotape on a real fire would lend particular weight to its message.

The Learning and Teaching Centre at Victoria has a long tradition of providing resources and advice to help instructors work effectively. While they have previously produced several "Critical Incident" videotapes (used at hundreds of universities worldwide), this is the first to discuss a physical emergency. This new departure has to be judged a success.

The fire around which the videotape is based started in a waste bin in a teaching laboratory, and was discovered on a Sunday morning. The videotape focuses on the steps taken by those most directly involved with the fire and its consequences: the research worker who found it, members of the fire service called to the scene, and the departmental safety officer. While film of the area involved in the fire shows that structural damage was not severe, the disruption caused to the operation of a department undoubtedly was. Had the fire gone unnoticed for longer, the damage might have been extensive, and injuries to researchers possible.

The viewer is encouraged to put himself or herself into the position of those involved. The researcher and the safety officer describe their responses to the emergency; after each is interviewed, there is a short break in the presentation, during which it is intended that viewers address a number of questions under the prompting of a local facilitator. Some questions are presented on screen, others are posed in the leaflet that accompanies the videotape.

The questions are generally fairly straightforward; nevertheless, considering one's response to these in relation to one's own institution can be a sobering exercise. Any complacency that "it couldn't happen here" is likely to disappear rapidly. For example, when the fire service arrived, they requested details of the chemicals stored within the laboratory that contained the fire. In Victoria, these details were available, but would they be in every institution? In some cases, the necessary records might be held within the laboratory itself, and thus perhaps already destroyed by the fire.

I found myself asking: Could a fire start in a waste bin within my own laboratory in Oxford, as it had in Victoria? Would my research students delay in calling the fire brigade until they were convinced a fire had taken hold - a delay that might literally be a fatal mistake? Would they try to tackle the fire themselves? Might they assume an area was safe to move through because of the absence of smoke, without considering the possibility that dangerous levels of carbon monoxide might have been present?

In raising these questions, the videotape is thought-provoking and valuable. It does, however, have its weaknesses. The primary weakness is its reliance upon the viewer drawing the right conclusions. In a medium-sized or large chemistry department, the videotape would form the basis of a valuable discussion on safety, facilitated by the departmental or university safety officer. In a small department, which might have no suitable professional to guide the discussion, viewers may be less certain what conclusions should be drawn. More detailed written material would be of value for those who might watch the videotape without an expert at hand.

Overall however, the videotape has much to recommend it. It contains graphic footage showing the serious effects of even a fairly modest fire. In their own words we hear from those involved, and are encouraged to consider how they acted, and whether they should have done anything differently. Inevitably we are led to ask "Could it happen here?" and question what we would do to prevent a similar accident.

This videotape has a particular resonance for me. After completing an evening chemistry show at the University of Winnipeg many years ago, I disposed of waste chemicals (safely, I thought) in an outdoors waste-material skip; the contents of the skip caught fire in the night, triggering an emergency call to the Winnipeg fire brigade. As departmental Safety Officer at Oxford, I have a particular responsibility for, and interest in, safety. And for many years I was in charge of a pair of laboratories at the University of Victoria adjacent to the one that caught fire. Fires can and do happen; this videotape will help to raise awareness of their causes and prevention. It is a safety aid that many departments will find valuable.