A Lab Safety Story

1. A Lab Safety Story By Nicholas Sant

2. It’s the morning of your first Chemistry laboratory class, and you’re waiting outside the laboratory, both nervous and excited – Chemistry’s your favourite subject! There’s just one problem though: you can’t remember anything from the lab safety class, because it was on a Monday morning. Nobody remembers anything from Monday mornings- that’s a rule. Click to continue!

3. As, one by one, all your friends arrive outside the laboratory to join you, you notice that everybody is wearing a white lab coat, closed-in shoes, and a pair of safety glasses. Do you… …stay at the lab and wait for the teacher to arrive? …rush to your locker on the other side of the school, where you have a change of clothes?

4. In an impressive show of athleticism that would perhaps have won you the cross-country a while back, you arrive back at the lab just as the teacher does, albeit huffing and puffing enough to blow the lab down. Most importantly though, you have the correct clothing, just like your friends. The science teacher unlocks the door, and cheerily allows everyone in. You step through the doors, and feel the rush of excitement a chemist can only feel once in their life. Click here to continue! ☺

5. You’ve opted to be lazy, and not rush all the way to the other side of the school to pick up more appropriate clothing. You would’ve made it back in time for the lesson, by the way. Still, you’ve got time to kill! Do you… …ask one of your friends what you should do? …dedicate your efforts to coming up with a reasonable excuse? …chat with your friends and relax? It’s just clothing after all- what’s the big deal!?

6. The friend you ask has a spare lab coat and closed-in shoes in her nearby locker which -what a coincidence- are just the right fit for you! Unfortunately, they don’t have any spare safety glasses. Do you… ..smile understandingly and thank them for the spare clothes? ..guilt them into giving you theirs?

7. They give you their glasses, just as the Chemistry teacher arrives at the lab in what seems to be a great mood. As he allows the class into the lab, he overlooks the fact that your friend has no safety glasses. Your friend spots a seat at the back of the laboratory, and you sit with her. The lesson goes perfectly, until your friend trips, sending her face-first into a number of harmful chemicals on the teacher’s desk. She is immediately rushed to the hospital. The science teacher ends up losing his good mood, as well as his job. You receive ten years of bad karma, throughout which you should contemplate how important lab safety is.

8. The teacher notices that you are missing safety glasses. He’s in a cheerful mood, and lends you a pair kept in the small store at the back of the laboratory! ☺ Click here to continue…

9. Your teacher arrives at the lab in quite a good mood. He accepts your excuse, and allows you into the lab despite your lack of correct clothing. He takes you to the small store at the back of the laboratory, where he procures a lab coat and safety glasses which, although uncomfortable, do the job quite well. Click here to continue…

10. Your science teacher eventually arrives, in quite a cheery mood! Any worries you had about him not allowing you into the lab were completely wrong- he gives the class a cursory glance, and opens the doors to the lab to let everybody in. Do you… …find a seat at the back of the class, and try to blend in? …notify the teacher of your lack of correct clothing?

11. He’s in a good mood, and he’s very understanding. He leads you to the small store at the back of the laboratory, where he procures a lab coat and safety glasses which, although uncomfortable, do the job quite well! Click here to continue!

12. Your teacher doesn’t notice you at the back of the class, and gets right down to the teaching! He explains the first experiment, and you and your lab partner begin creating your first Chemistry laboratory experience together! Click here to continue! ☻

13. Your lab partner isn’t very good at Chemistry- that’s why they’ve sat at the back of the class. In the middle of the first experiment, he accidently spills concentrated Hydrochloric acid across your arm. In case you didn’t know, that isn’t a good thing. However, your future takes an unexpected turn when your parents win big at lottery! Expensive surgery is arranged for you to have a metal prosthetic arm, resulting in your instant popularity at school!

14. Your teacher begins explaining the first experiment but, because of your position at the back of the lab, you don’t exactly catch what he says, and neither does your lab partner. Do you.. …copy what everybody else is doing? …ask the teacher to repeat what he said?

15. Very scientific of you. Following in the footsteps of everybody else around you, you collect a test tube, pour a few cubic centimeters of acid, and then add a piece of metal to it. The test tube begins getting very hot in your hands, and you drop the test tube, splashing your lab partner with acid. Looking up amidst the chaos, you notice that your peers are holding their test tubes in test tube holders. Your lab partner is rushed to the water bath, while you are sent outside for the rest of the lesson to reflect on the abomination of a chemist that you are.

16. Quite smart of you to ask the teacher to repeat himself. Do you… …rush to the teacher so that you and your partner don’t fall behind? …walk carefully to the teacher?

17. You slip in a puddle that you didn’t notice, and knock your head on a bench, resulting in your inability to complete your first lab class. You poor thing.

18. You arrive safely in front of the teacher, and ask him what you and your lab partner were meant to do. He tells you to collect a test tube, pour a small amount of acid into it, add a piece of the metal provided, and note down the results. Later on, as you perform the experiment, a gas is evolved. Do you… …point the tube away from you, towards your lab partner? …breathe away from the fumes?

19. Your lab partner breathes in the fumes pointed at her, and begins having an asthma attack. You are left alone for the rest of the experiment, to contemplate the error of your ways. As you are now concentrating twice as much on performing the experimentyou were supposed to have a partner for, you accidentally slip in a puddle and knock your head on a bench, resulting in your inability to complete the rest of your first lab class! You poor thing.

20. Your teacher notices your reflex, and loudly congratulates you in front of the entire class. He’s sure to retell stories of your scientific expertise to other teachers in the staff room later! Being the shy individual that you are, you raise a hand to your face to cover your blushing. A friend says something in to you in a serious tone of voice, but you don’t catch it, caught up in your moment of success as you are. Do you.. …ask them to repeat themselves? …nod vigorously, saying ‘Okay’?

21. The chemicals which were on your glove contaminate your face. The chemicals result in you rapidly developing an extremely noticeable and permanent case of acne. You die of embarrassment.

22. They said “You’ve got some chemicals on your face from touching it! Quick, go wash it off!” You quickly wash it off at the water bath, and thank them. Annoyingly, you’ve got some water on your safety glasses now. Do you… …take them off and wipe them with some tissue that you spot at the front of the class? …leave them be, and try to tolerate it?

23. As you make your way to the front of the class, your Chemistry teacher throws a glass of ice-cold water into your face. “That could’ve been acid! NEVER take your safety glasses off!” Your friends are laughing and pointing at you, you’ve learnt your lesson now. One of your friends’ lab coats catch fire on a burner as they laugh, and the fire alarm goes off. Do you.. …run to the exit? Come on, it’s an emergency, and you don’t want to die! …make your way quickly and calmly to the exit?

24. You pat yourself on the back on your excellent decision, as you watch your teacher splash another teacher in the face with cold water, telling the class that it could’ve been acid. As you laugh uncontrollably along with the rest of the class, your lab coat catches fire. …run to the exit? Come on, it’s an emergency, and you don’t want to die! …make your way quickly and calmly to the exit?

25. You trip on your designer bag and fall into the fire, which has quickly spread, fueled by the lab chemicals. Your peers couldn’t save you in time. Your spirit haunts the lab to this day, known to the locals as “the ghost of poor lab safety”, bringing a violent death to those who do not observe safety protocols.

26. You realise you’ve left your expensive designer bag behind. Do you…. …quickly go back and retrieve it? You’ll never find another one just like it! …leave it behind?

27. Just as you rush back to the exit with your designer bag, the fire, which has quickly spread, blocks the doorway. You pass away in the fire. Your spirit haunts the lab to this day, known to the locals as “the ghost of poor lab safety”, bringing a violent death to those who do not observe safety protocols.

28. Once outside the lab, your Chemistry teacher- no longer quite as cheerful as he was to begin with- does a head count of the class, to find that everybody is present and safe. He tells the class that the class is now concluded- like he has a choice. And that is the end of your first lab session- what an eventful time!