Safety audits and chemical risk assessments with schools and small to medium sized businesses

Lecturers: P.M. Ennis and Claire Mc Donnell

In 2006/2007 as part of the Bachelor of Science (Honours) Degree in Forensic and Environmental Analysis (DT 203, School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, DIT) fourth year students taking the Chemical Control, Radioactivity and Bioinorganic Chemistry module worked on several Students Learning with Community projects.

One of the projects involved working with a Chemistry teacher in a secondary school and carring out a safety audit and chemical risk assessments on assigned science experiments (one each). The following year students found a small to medium sized business and performed a safety audit on them as well as a chemical risk assessment on a process performed in that company.

What do the students get from it?

Students develop a range of skills including:

  • Applying scientific principles and skills to solve a scientific problem
  • Working systematically towards a solution
  • Organizing and managing time
  • Communicating succinctly both orally and in written form a body of scientific information.

What does the community get from it?

Community groups received a written report from the students outlining the potential risks and hazards identified through the safety audit and risk assessments, and also suggestions on how to make improvements. In this way the groups benefitted very directly from the students' technical knowledge.

Community Partners: 

Read more about this project in a general presentation Claire Mc Donnell has put together on Chemistry Students Learning with Communities Projects.