Fictional Safety Story

Alexis. A

It was the last block of the day and me and my friend Fiona are in science class. Everyone was so excited about the science lab tomorrow and can’t wait. But first, we had to get through this science class which is all regarding an ethical dilemma. Our ethical dilemma that we were talking about was animal testing/experimenting. Yes, there are both sides to this conversation, although I feel stronger about one more than the other. When I think of animal testing, I would usually think of killing an animal only for the dissection, experiment or test. But I can be wrong, if the animal is already dead, then using the parts of the animal wouldn’t be as bad because you are not killing the animal for the experiment, you are re-using the parts of an already dead animal. Therefore, in my opinion, I think you shouldn’t do any types of animal testing, unless the animal is already dead, or you use an alternative. We then finished the day off with discussing to our table group, then went home.

The next day in science, it was lab day, and we were combining some toxic chemicals. I started off, putting on gloves and preparing the utility clamp to hold the test tubes we were going to use for our liquids and chemicals. I then realized that my friend Fiona didn’t have her gloves on and had her hair down. I tried to tell her to put her hair into a ponytail and to put her gloves on, but she said she will do it later. I believed her and went back to preparing. We started the experiment and started to mix some chemicals. Accidentally, Fiona spilled the test tube, and the chemicals went all over the table. I went to tell the teacher, but Mr. Robinson wasn’t in the class, then it spread onto her hair, and we all started to panic.  We forgot to check if any of the chemicals or liquids were flammable and can catch fire easily, so we didn’t know. We didn’t know what else to do, so we tried blowing on it. That just made it worse, then I remembered what Mr. Robinson had taught us about when your hair catches on fire. Grab the fire blanket or use the safety shower! I had to run quickly to get the fire blanket and wrap it around her to put out the fires. I went to go get the teacher and tell him everything that happened. She decided after that, she will always put her hair into a ponytail every day. We all discussed and talked about how we can prevent that from happening the next time.

We continued our experiment and then used beakers (to hold our liquids over the Bunsen burner) and a Bunsen burner to heat up our liquids as a part of the experiment. After Heating up our liquids, we had to use the tongs to safely take the beaker off the burner. Fiona wanted to do it, so I gave her the tongs and let her remove the beaker. She started walking off because she was so proud of herself, then the tongs slipped, and the beaker shattered on the floor along with the liquids. At this time Mr. Robinson was inside the class, and he helped us clean up. We used the mop, broom and the dustpan. After that was all cleaned up, we had to disinfect the whole area. I found a Lysol spray and saw the explosive warning, so I knew I had to be careful.

The class was coming to an end, and everybody started to pack up. But Mr. Robinson had a few more things to say. He mentioned that in the next weeks lab, we would be using corrosive and toxic chemicals/liquids. So, we had to be prepared and really careful. Me and Fiona have learned our lesson from today. Then we ended the day off and me and Fiona are thinking “at least no one died”.