Australia's Science Forum

Thanks for the heads-up. Good to be forewarned in case he turns up somwhere else.

There's a good chance we'd recognise him from the video...

http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/- ... -ice-dare/

Good news!

Hi All, Re: (Dry Ice)

I have sent an reccomendation to the Attorney Generals office for hazardous chemicals regarding the use of Dry Ice in schools, particularly when there is negligence involved. This should give a better understanding of the event at hand.

This event is embarrasing to the better trained persons out there.

Cheers,

Robb.....

This is photo of one of the burnt hands...

http://express-advocate-gosford.whereil ... stigation/

Some questions that spring to mind.....
Where was the labby/HOD when this was happening ?
Was an order form and risk assessment filled out ?
Why didn't the students use their common sense and drop the dry ice when they could feel it burning ?
What happened to teaching lab safety rules to Year 7 ?
I'm sure there are more questions that need to be asked especially in light of the legal battle.

We were wondering some of the same things. I can offer explanations for a couple but not all. Dry Ice can be a bit of a delayed pain. By the time it really started to hurt they would have done a lot of damage.
I have had the situation where a teacher has put in a proper request and risk assessment but then has been off sick. I didn't realise and had left the experiment in the lab for them but was in another lab (we can't be everywhere!). When I did go back to the other lab there was a relief teacher trying to do the experiment, the place was in chaos and there were students in the prep room inserting magnets into the iron filings bottle.
My head nearly exploded!
Doesn't really explain it for this situation though as Dry Ice isn't something you tend to just leave for a teacher in the same way as other experiments.

I'm with you, Smeee. Add to those questions

Who got the dry ice? and why?
Was it for a different class?

While I don't condone the actions (or rather lack of action) of the science teacher, there are more people involved. I agree that the kids should not have been put in a 'competition' situation for holding it the longest, but where is the kids' responsibility to themselves?

I am concerned for the child who had the blisters cut off. Anyone who has any knowledge of first aid knows that blisters and the fluid inside are vital to healing and should never be popped! The skin protects against infection and the fluid protects against physical bumping as well has containing all the cells that do the mending. I hope the person who cut them off (I don't know if they were medically trained or not) had a good reason for doing so, because if that child develops infection they will have a lot to answer for!

This case will be very interesting to follow and the outcomes. I have been told by an ex-Terrigal teacher, the casual brought the dry ice in himself and it was in a demountable classroom, no-one else knew what he was up to, not sure if that explains things or makes it worse & he was not a well known casual.

Hi Rosalie, the blisters were cut off at Gosford hospital under medical supervision, and I am sure they are closly monitored. One of the boys may have to have skin grafts, and they are still on pain relief. This was in Fridays local paper. I was also asking all the same questions as Rosalie & Smeee

I have the word he is on the list Not to be used again in DEC school
Look out for him in non DEC schools
Stephen Nugent HT was on leave I believe when the now X Teacher was at the school

Hello
Do NSW teacher need to be registered ? Victorian teacehrs have VIT registration.
amanda

Why didn't the students use their common sense and drop the dry ice when they could feel it burning ?

Smee, c'mon! 12-yr-olds! Incompatible quantities for the most part. Trouble is I've seen kids, big and little, have ice-holding competitions, and I don't think they knew the diff between cold and real cold!

Some of our Y7 & Y8 have been experimenting with ice cubes and salt. They heard about it on Facebook. Put the salt on the skin of your leg and hold an ice cube on it.
Result is frostbite - I do the first aid here and I've had some bad burns.
What's with kids these days?

As an aside... I can remember my mum talking about having to send kids (possibly yr 2?) to the sick bay to be treated for burns. They'd had a competition at lunch to see who could sit on the hot cement for the longest. Yr 2 kids I can sort of understand (still learning about consequences)...

smiley wrote:

Why didn't the students use their common sense and drop the dry ice when they could feel it burning ?

Smee, c'mon! 12-yr-olds! Incompatible quantities for the most part. Trouble is I've seen kids, big and little, have ice-holding competitions, and I don't think they knew the diff between cold and real cold!

Indeed. These were 12 year olds, not year 12s, after all. Mind even with some year 12s...

Would kids expect severe consequences for following instructions when the teacher blithely made a competition out of it?

AnnNos wrote:What's with kids these days?

Meh. Kids have always done daft things. It's just that these days they get to brag about it globally.

Hi All,

Hmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,

Robb.....

This is the outcome of the incident "Holding dry ice in their hands"
Page 12 of Today's Daily Telegraph

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/ns ... 6611199422

Wonder who is paying his barrister's fees ??

I was wondering where they got the judge from myself

So is he going to be charged with anything? Magistrate said:" while one student's injuries were so serious, he could not write, it did not constitute grivous bodily harm". Try to tell the student and his mother.
Lada

is it some consolation that he will never work in the NSW DEC again?
Not really.

Hope all the other systems note his name