Assessment of chemical management practices and safety in junior secondary school laboratories in Gaborone

The unsound management and use of chemicals poses threats to human well-being at many levels. This study was aimed at assessing chemical management practices and safety in junior secondary school laboratories. A likert survey was developed and administered to 30 participants from 10 randomly sampled junior secondary schools in Gaborone. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to compute frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The findings show that there is lack of knowledge and awareness on sound chemical management as shown by low frequency of 1.58. Low frequencies of mean range of 1.85–2.38 indicated that there is poor record keeping and poor inventory management and that there are no measures in place for disposal of out-of-date stock or expired chemicals. These deficiencies could compromise the safety environment of laboratories. The areas which teachers indicated were most pressing which would require immediate attention were; the need for training, the need for laboratory technicians and the need for protective clothing. Upon visiting various junior secondary school science laboratories, the researchers found a lot of deficiencies; for example, chemical containers were either not labelled or had fading labels and incompatible chemicals were stored together increasing the risks of chemical accidents. The researchers also found obsolete chemicals kept within the chemical store rooms as the various schools did not have capacity to dispose them off. There is therefore a need to put measures in place to promote chemical safety in schools such as through developing a chemical safety continuing education curriculum for school teachers.