Sc Tech meeting minutes - March 8, 2005 PAGE - 2 - -
CBE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TECHNICIANS MEETING
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
Sir Winston Churchill High School
Library
Present: Rebecca Michaels Forest Lawn
Shraddha Dholabhai J. G. Diefenbaker
Nasreen Muhammad Central Memorial
Steve McMannis James Fowler
Hanna Svelka Sir Winston Churchill
Helen Li Queen Elizabeth
Pat Visser Lord Beaverbrook
Dianne Shellborn William Aberhart
Theresa Michiel Crescent Heights
Mary Shelford Dr. E. P. Scarlett
Karen Williams Bowness
Regrets: Dawn Martin Henry Wise Wood
Kathy Lepard Centennial
Absent: Tai Leung Lester B. Pearson, Ernest Manning
Lynda Roberts Adult Academic – Chinook College, Viscount Bennett Centre
Marzena Curyk Western Canada
Kathleen Grebneff National Sports School
Meeting was called to order at 1:00 PM.
CHAIRPERSON: Pat Visser
RECORDER: Karen Williams
1) MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING held on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 were accepted with the following changes:
Storage of solutions is done by HAZARDS (nitrates, chlorides, carbonates, etc.) OR
(oxidizers, corrosives, flammables, general)
Non-routine waste: Sumas Environmental is the contractor…
2) CONSIDERATION OF THE AGENDA: The agenda was accepted as presented.
4) REBECCA:
a) Science Tech Manual Revision - submissions should be forwarded to Rebecca as soon as possible. Rebecca has revised the WHMIS section and it is on-line. TDG is a “work in progress”. Links have been included under Student Safety to documents re: safety contract, contact lens letter etc.
b) STAS Conference will be held in Red Deer on June 21, 2005
ii. There will be a half day workshop on probes presented by Dianne Shellborn & Brenda Smith. Lorinda King from Merlan can supply probes and related equipment. It was suggested that the workshop be split to include Vernier and Pasco.
iii. It was suggested that the Edmonton Techs (those that have been involved in the Field Testing) be contacted to present a half day seminar on the labs associated with the Forensics option course of study coming for Fall 2005.
c) School Chemical Inventory - the original purpose for this was to get a list of chemicals used in each school in order to get a recommendation from Safety Services as to the type of respirator needed. With guidance received from Rebecca at the Tech Convention Day, each school should now be able to post their chemical inventory, with a MSDS link for each chemical, for use by students and teachers at their school.
d) In the CBE Safety Manual, classroom checks are mandated monthly. Enforcement / compliance is difficult at this frequency - would probably work better once per semester.
e) Job Reclassification: the proposed positions
Area Technologist would be part of Safety Services Classification I
current Science Tech would be called a Lab Manager Classification G or H
second Tech would be called Science Technician Classification E or F
Rebecca predicts that it will take 1 – 2 years for reclassification to come into effect and 2 – 4 years for establishment of Area Techs.
6) Meeting with Curriculum Leaders (CL’s) attended by Theresa and Rebecca. Topics that Sc Techs wanted to discuss were establishing an Area Tech position and having Sc Tech representatives attend CL meeting (or portion of) on a regular basis. Issues that were discussed included Liability, and current pressures for a Junior High Science Specialist.
While waiting for Jean Minifie, Wally Burfield and Mark Lewis to arrive, there was a discussion on the issue of Safety Budgeting. The feeling was that this should be system-wide and not decentralized. The expectation was that Area Techs would be addressing non-discretionary safety issues and would provide pressure for non-discretionary, system-wide, safety budgeting.
Mark Lewis (Acting Science Curriculum Specialist) arrived at 2:30 PM.
7) MARK LEWIS:
a) Asked for advice from those present regarding the use of Ammonia in Junior High School classrooms. Apparently the ScholAR link on the MSDS inventory database is not working.
b) Murray Vankenburg, CBE Buyer expects that a three year contract will be established with Northwest Scientific Supply / Boreal.
c) Brenda Smith had reported that SCIENCE IS is a good source for electrical components, magnets etc. with same day availability. This is a home based business, owned by George Pastirik in Hawkwood, that currently serves home schoolers and private schools. George is trying to get a CBE contract. Check http://www.science-is.com for contact information.
Wally Burfield (Industrial Hygiene Technologist, CBE Safety Services) arrived at 2:40 PM.
5. WALLY BURFIELD:
a) Respirators are available through Highfield Stores. These respirators are the disposable type (P45 and N99) and not the P100 (non-disposable type). Use an S-18 to requisition.
b) The delay of non-routine waste pickup at Crescent Heights and Forest Lawn schools was due to loss of fax files during “flood” at Safety Services offices. Schools should expect a 4 to 6 week turnaround time for non-routine waste pickup service. Please send any concerns re: non-routine waste to Wally. The contract with Sumas Environmental has been renewed for 2 years. They were chosen based on cost effectiveness, and that we could use subsidiary labeling. (Lab pack under shipping names – MSDS not required.)
c) Wally reported that a request for the formation of a Safety Committee for Science Techs was initiated by him in January 2005.
Jean Minifie (Chair, CBE Staff Association) arrived at 2:45 PM.
d) In order to determine which respirator to recommend, a Chemical master inventory was requested by Wally at the October 26 /04 meeting. Individual school chemical inventories were to be emailed to Rebecca by January 2005. It was suggested that Rebecca merge all inventories into one document - .pdf conversion to Excel may be required – and forward to Wally. It was noted that each school may need different filter cartridges ie. Chlorine gas vapour from pouring conc HCl, and rare amides / amines need specialized filter
e) It was noted that the Staff Association had requested that CBE Stores stock a basic general respirator. Fitting and training for use (requires one week notice to Safety Services) and yearly maintenance is mandatory.
f) Mark asked what the rationale was for the CTS / Fine Arts focus regarding OHS, why not Science. Wally referred him to contact Janice Tronsky.
8) On-Line Science Tech Manual: Theresa, Rebecca and Shraddha had met at Crescent Heights to consider revisions. They are committed to complete this work by mid April /05. http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/science/sciencetechnicians
9) Alberta Ed “Science Safety Resource: Safety in the Science Classroom” document is to go to print by summer 2005 for a September rollout. Rebecca will contact Vic Romanyshyn regarding pictures etc. for the document.
10) MSDS Management Company – approval is being sought through CBE ITS to provide this service not just to Science but system-wide so that each school is not “reinventing the wheel” in this matter. Chemical suppliers (source of MSDS) would be linked to CBE and in turn in the case of Science linked to our Tech site. Several questions were raised as to how this would work.
11) Junior High Science – Brenda Smith and Jr High teachers are compiling a document outlining the current cost of the Junior High Science curriculum. (see NCFP Community of Practice website link) They are also developing guidelines for safe handling of chemicals in Junior Highs.
12) CBE Secondary Sciences and Laboratory Safety Guidelines document, developed through CBE Risk Management, is under review to remove the legal “feel” eg. Safety “agreement” rather than Safety “contract” etc.
3) JEAN MINIFIE:
a) Jean had sent an email to Ray Allen (CBE Safety Advisor) regarding the apparent lack of response to Science Tech concerns on safety issues.
b) CBE now has a Job Description for Lab Pages
c) Job evaluation form: Please send completed forms to Jean by March 24 /05. Any comments on topics not covered in the printed form can be put on the back. A CL’s signature is not required on this questionnaire. Regarding Q11 on questionnaire: Supervision of others – does “ensure” imply that we are supervising teachers ?
d) Hazard Assessment (session at Highfield attended by Pat V., Dianne, Shraddha and Karen in Dec /04 on behalf of CBE Sc Techs). This session did not provide enough detail or enough time to fully consider the hazards of our work. A further opportunity was requested. Anyone who has opinions on this should email Jean with their concerns.
e) Staff Association is aware of the Reclassification recommendations made through Rebecca ie. Area Tech / Lab Manager / second Tech Assistant
f) Jean noted that money allotted to schools for support personnel is based on enrollment. With RAM, schools now have more control of FTE’s because teacher and support staff are combined.
g) Jean will look into the issue of routine fumehood testing / monitoring. Please email Jean with any further safety compliance issues.
13. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM