Safety in Outreach Settings
Make chemistry outreach experiences safer for all to enjoy with this RAMP-based guide.
Safety in Outreach Settings adapts RAMP, the four-part risk management system used in academic labs, to public venues.
Facilitating hands-on activities or performing chemistry demonstrations in public outreach settings requires special safety considerations, beyond the established standard operating procedures of your lab. Places where public outreach takes place such as science museums, libraries, public parks, and schools are all unlikely to have fume hoods, splash shields, eye protection, or even easy access to running water. Add the need to transport chemicals to the site and back again, with the unknowns of bringing together groups of people, and the likelihood that someone gets hurt increases dramatically!
This guide will help you select low-risk activities and demonstrations for your program. It will also help you recognize and eliminate high-risk ones, before they become regrettable accidents. More powerfully, though, this guide will help you plan and implement specific strategies and safeguards to minimize the risks you take every time you engage the public with chemistry.
Safety in Outreach Settings will help you:
- Identify and select low-risk activities for your outreach program
- Recognize and eliminate high-risk activities and demos before they lead to accidents
- Make strategic changes to activities and demos to minimize the likelihood of injury and promote a culture of safety
Outreach Safety Checklists & Worksheets
Sample RAMP Worksheet & Activity Example
Review a sample RAMP worksheet and corresponding outreach activity to help you calibrate your risk tolerance to an appropriate level for the organizations you represent when doing outreach.
- Download Sample RAMP Worksheet (Connect with Slime Activity)
- Download Connect with Slime Activity
More RAMP and safety resources
- RAMP Basics
A framework for making chemical safety an integral part of chemistry education and practice. - Safer Experiments and Demonstrations
This collection of articles, guidelines, and requirements explain how to plan and conduct chemistry demonstrations both on-campus and off. - Free Online Course: Foundations of Chemical Safety and Risk Management for Chemistry Students
This free intermediate level course on laboratory chemical safety introduces the components and tools necessary to develop a strong culture of safety. - ACS Safety Guidelines for Chemical Demonstrations (PDF)
This checklist, from the ACS Division of Chemical Education, will help you plan and present chemistry demonstrations for the public safely.
The Safety in Outreach Settings RAMP Analysis Guide and Worksheet were developed by a joint-task force consisting of members from the Committee on Community Activities, the Society Committee on Education, and the Committee on Chemical Safety.
Contact the ACS Office of Science Outreach
outreach@acs.org
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