School safety expert witness advises on student injury

Case Overview

A school safety expert witness with a laboratory safety specialty advises on a case involving a fourth grade private elementary school student who was encouraged by his substitute teacher to taste and swallow what turned out to be a corrosive liquid resulting from a failed science enrichment demonstration involving dry ice by a contracted outside education company’s presenter. The record shows that the hospitalized student received severe burning of the mouth and esophagus with potential long term ramifications. Following the incident, the school’s president/CEO issued a formal statement that the student did not ingest dry ice.

The contacted presenter had been hired by the student’s science teacher who had been absent from school on the day the activity took place. The school secured the school’s physical education teacher to cover for the science teacher for supervision purposes.

The legal complaint, originally filed by the student’s parents, alleges that the school failed to provide appropriate duty of care in order to protect the student and keep him out of harm’s way.

Questions to the Education expert and their responses

Did the school fail to provide appropriate duty of care in order to protect the student and keep him out of harm’s way?

The school had the duty to provide a safety trained competent science teacher to oversee the demonstration.

Did the school address legal safety standards and better professional practices?

When planning for a guest speaker, the teacher and school administration also had a legal and professional responsibility to address legal safety standards (e.g. OSHA standards and/or state labor department employee safety regulations) and better professional practices (e.g. national science professional association’s position statements).

Were safety compliance training and oversight provided for the presenter’s demonstration?

Numerous legal standards and professional safety compliance expectations in dealing with hazardous chemical management and references to previous court cases proved extremely helpful to the lawyer’s representing the plaintiff in settling the case in the plaintiff’s favor.

About the expert

This expert has 30 years of experience in science education and safety. He has been recognized in Who's Who in Education, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and Who's Who in Science Education in the World. He served as a K-12 science director and chemistry/physics teacher for several decades and has written several publications on science safety. Among other positions, he currently serves as a Safety Consultant and Director of Environmental Health and Safety for a public school system.