Science Laboratories Safety Assessment Among Secondary School Students In Kitui County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Laboratories are potentially dangerous work environment, often containing a wide variety of toxic, flammable, corrosive, and reactive compounds that can cause harm or injury if safety standards are not adhered to. Although several studies show laboratory safety is a growing concern for schools, little national data exist on the current safety of facilities, equipment, and practices. There is an exponential rise in student population in secondary schools in Kenya that leads to safety concern. The study was conducted in both public and private secondary school between January and October 2016 in Kitui central sub-County, Kitui County, Kenya. The main objective of this study was to assess science laboratories safety among secondary school students in Kitui County, Kenya. The study was conducted in eighteen secondary schools and the main focus was on issues of chemicals management and student population in secondary school science laboratories. Descriptive cross sectional design was used in the study. The sub-county had 34 secondary schools, 8264 students and 108 science teachers. Stratified, proportionate, purposive and simple random sampling was used to recruit the study participants comprising of 18 school Principals, 36 Science teachers, 16 laboratory assistants and 368 students with all the subjects being given equal chances of being selected to participate in the study. Structured and unstructured questionnaires and observation check list were used to collect primary data. The collected data was analyzed, coded and sorted in appropriate form and the results were presented in charts, tables and narrations. The data was analyzed using percentages and chi square guided by research objectives and research questions. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyze the data. The research results revealed the significant causes of injuries as inhalation of gases (25%), sharp objects (23.33%) and chemical spillage (20%) which increase when schools fail to comply with the laboratory safety standards and procedures. The study revealed that only 31.25% laboratory assistance trained up to diploma level and were mainly in National schools where there were few injuries, 31.25% were untrained, mainly in private schools. This shows inadequate knowledge among the laboratory assistant which compounds the exposure of the students to injuries. Significant associations were observed between type of school and frequency of injuries (χ2=4.4 df=4 and p=0.021). The result of this study may be used by school administration and policy makers to plan on systems to reduce injuries by employing trained laboratory assistance and ensuring the recommended number of students of between 40-45 per given class in secondary school. The study recommends school administration to ensure that teachers and their students are made aware against safety risk to reduce frequencies and causes of injuries. The study also recommends the government through MOE should improve coordination and follow up of all stakeholders in safety policy implementation process to ensure that laboratory safety standards are adhered to. The study recommends further research on challenges faced by students, laboratory technicians and teachers in the science laboratories which was not covered in this study.