Fictional Science Safety Story

On a Thursday afternoon, Ann walked excitedly into her science class because today they were doing a lab, specifically, her first lab this year. Before the lab, there was a dreaded quiz awaiting her since the teacher, Ms. Brown wanted to make sure everyone knew the equipment names as well as a few WHMIS and consumer hazard symbols. Ann was confident though since she stayed up late studying. Everyone sat down in their seats and attendance was taken. Then the teacher came around and passed out the quiz. Ann sighed with relief since the quiz didn’t look to be too long which meant more time for the lab. The first few questions consisted of naming pictures of equipment and describing their purpose. “Easy”, Ann thought. There was a picture of a beaker and next to it, Ann confidently wrote “used to stir, heat or measure liquid in mL. Below, was another picture of a triple beam balance where she correctly wrote, ” used to measure mass in grams”. She breezed through the first half of the quiz and eventually turned the page over to find the WHMIS symbols. The first symbol was:. Ann knew exactly what it was from the image of a skull and wrote “it means harmful or fatal”. The second symbol below it was: Ann saw the picture of a tree and a fish so she knew it meant harmful to the environment. Next up on the quiz were the consumer hazard symbols. There was a  , and Ann knew it meant flammable and that the octagon shape meant danger. The last question had a picture of a . Beside it, Ann correctly put that it meant corrosive and that the shape around it meant danger.

After the quiz, Ms. Brown briefly went over the quiz answers, and Ann passed, not a big surprise from all the studying she did. Her teacher gave some instructions about the class’s lab and all the equipment they will need. Ann partnered up with her friend Hazel, who didn’t seem as excited. Nonetheless, they began the lab where they were observing different specimens together under a compound microscope that uses two lenses to allow the specimen to appear larger. Ann got the glass slide to put the specimen on (for the microscope) and the cover slip to cover the specimen on the microscope. Hazel was bored out of her mind so, she decided to play around with the glass slide, fumbling with trying to make it stand on its own. The glass slide fell off the counter and onto the floor where it shattered. Hazel was wearing sandals that day which somehow, Ms. Brown wasn’t aware of so, Hazel’s feet ended up getting cut. Hazel didn’t want to make a big deal out of it so without the teacher or Ann knowing, she swiftly picked the glass up with her hands and dumped it in the trash bin. This resulted in her hand being cut from the glass and she also made the mistake of putting the glass in the wrong bin too. A fellow classmate quickly noticed what was happening with Hazel so, they immediately got Ms. Brown. Startled, Ms. Brown remained calm and made sure Hazel was able to walk and brought her down to the first aid room. Hazel received a talk that seemed to go on for years from the teacher about safety, of course. When Ms. Brown came back, everyone continued with their work and she made sure everyone knew the rules about safety. Ann had to continue without Hazel and as she was working, Ann noticed a puddle of water on the ground coming from a leak. Ms. Brown, still processing what was happened, was notified right away. If she hadn’t been notified, danger could have awoken once again in the class. The water was mopped up thoroughly and they found where the leak was coming from, and patched it. Soon enough, everyone was getting their results and observations ready for their write-up which they would eventually have to share with the class. Ann saw how her hypothesis didn’t match up entirely with her results. Ann hated being wrong and she liked to impress her teacher and her classmates. She thought to herself, “The teacher already say my hypothesis but, I could easily change the results slightly and no one would know”. Ann was tempted to alter it but, she remembered the previous discussion her class had yesterday about ethics. She knew what she wanted to do wasn’t right and contemplated if it was worth putting up the image of being right all the time. Ann decided to be truthful in her findings and she knew she wouldn’t get points off if her hypothesis was wrong. The last bit of class flew by and the dismissal bell rang, emptying the classroom. Ann went home knowing she did the right thing as well as preventing danger in the class. At the end of the day, Hazel had learned her lesson about safety in the lab and knew after what happened she wouldn’t make any mistakes like it again.