Hazchem Refresher Course 
by RTG at Northlake Sr. College, Perth

Today we attended the second day of a required Hazchem Refresher course... new science techmicians in Western Australia are required to take a hazardous chemicals course and refresh it every 5 years.

There are 8 regional technicians in Western Australia that provide training and assistance to public school technicians.  They hold regional workshops and provide courses for technicians.

The day started with a review of the various legislative and regulatory bodies that are relevant to science technicians: Department of Mines and Petroleum Dangerous Goods Regulations on the Storage and Transport of DangerousGoods, Department of Commerce - Worksafe Occupational Health and Safety Act (1984) and Regulations (l996), Department of Health Guide to Labelling of Drugs and Poisons (l995) and Department of Education Occupational Safety and Health Policy Science Laboratory Manual.

Hazards and Chemical Properties were reviewed and how/where to find information on MSDS. Mercury will no longer be obtainable, but current supply usable until depleted.  Uranyl nitrate, bromine and acetic anhydride are now banned for school use in WA.

General Laboratory Safety Practices - examples of things to do and not to do.

There was a review of Dangerous Goods Classification and Chemical Storage Layout,,, chemical storage follows a vertical segregation organization, labelling of containers according to Regional Technician Group's (RTG's) Quick Reference Guide (QRG) and "bunding" of chemicals (solution containers of specified concentrations and volumes must be kept in a container that will hold that volume of solution should the primary container leak, spill, be broken).

Risk Assessments are required by law and for Western Australia schools this is considered having been performed by having a copy of the RTG chemical hazard information sheets for the chemicals used in the particular lab.

The last section of the day was on Waste Disposal (labelling, storage, disposal) and Spill Clean Up (types of spills, spill kit contents, spill clean up).

The topics had group or individual activities, such that both content and practical experience was delivered and gained.

There were some slight differences (tweakings), but for the most part, we found the approaches to chemical hazards to be similar with those used in Alberta schools.

By way of the RTG's the public WA science technicians receive a consistent training, overseeing and guidance.  We understand that there are approximately 200 public school science technicians and another approximately 150 independent school technicians that have their own organization.