Journal of chemical health & safety最新文献

{"title":"Occupational Exposure to Environmental Aerosols from Heated Tobacco Products in Japanese Catering Venues: a Pilot Study","authors":"Maya I. Mitova*,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Maria Gomez Lueso,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Samuel Kleinhans,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Catherine Goujon-Ginglinger,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Sachie Yamaji,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Yvonne S. K. Khoo,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00188","url":null,"abstract":"<p >A study was conducted in six Tokyo venues, each with separate nonsmoking and heated tobacco product (HTP)-use areas. Additionally, three of the venues had a smoking booth within the HTP-use area. Airborne nicotine was used as a specific marker to assess the occupational exposure of waitstaff in these venues. In nonsmoking areas, area monitoring generally demonstrated airborne nicotine levels below the detection limit or marginally exceeded it, except for one venue (maximum 0.278 μg/m³). In HTP-use areas, nicotine levels ranged from 0.237 to 2.16 μg/m³ (minimum–maximum range, median 0.681 μg/m³). For personal exposure in nonsmoking areas, 15 out of 19 8 h time-weighted averages were below the limit of quantification (LOQ). In cigarette smoking booth-equipped venues, most personal exposure measurements of the waitstaff entering HTP-use areas were quantifiable at low levels. Whereas the venues without cigarette smoking booths showed lower exposure levels, with 58% of samples below LOQ. All parameters for working environment control class assessment defined by the Japan Society of Occupational Health were below 1% of the threshold limit value for nicotine (TLV, 500 μg/m³). Area monitoring data were used to statistically model the predictive nicotine distribution, indicating a 0.7% probability of exceeding 5 μg/m³. The findings of this study support that separated nonsmoking and HTP-use areas, active mechanical ventilation, and negative pressure in HTP-use areas to direct airflow help to reduce waitstaff’s occupational exposure to nicotine (used as proxy for HTP environmental emissions) below 1% TLV as well as help prevent HTP aerosols from entering nonsmoking areas.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"275–289"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00188","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Real-Time Monitoring of Hydrocarbon Dew Points in Natural Gas Streams Using a PT100-Based Resistance Temperature Detector Sensor System","authors":"Kombaiah Poolaiah,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Gajendra Kumar Gupta,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Raghasudha Mucherla*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00209","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Precise determination and continuous monitoring of the Hydrocarbon Dew Point (HCDP) are essential in natural gas operations to ensure pipeline reliability, efficiency, and safety, as highlighted in ISO/TR 11150:2007. Due to natural gas compositional variations, HCDP can shift widely, with complex behaviors such as retrograde condensation making measurement particularly difficult. Conventional methods, including the Chilled Mirror Technique (CMT) and Gas Chromatography-Equation of State (GC-EOS) calculations, are associated with few drawbacks. CMT depends heavily on operator judgment and cannot deliver continuous data, while GC-EOS relies on accurate sampling and modeling, limiting its real-time applicability. This work introduces a Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) PT100-based sensing system capable of continuous, in situ monitoring of HCDP. The sensor was tested under varied process conditions, different compositions, pressures, and flow rates before and after gas treatment. Comparative analysis with CMT and GC-EOS demonstrates that the RTD PT100 provides consistent and accurate readings with mean deviations often within ±0.21 °C for treated gas and excellent agreement with GC-EOS predictions. For untreated streams, the system showed a lower variability than spot-measurement approaches. Furthermore, black particles in pig residue were considerably reduced by RTD PT100 compared to existing methods, indicating improved process cleanliness and gas quality stability. These findings establish the RTD PT100 as a dependable solution for real-time HCDP monitoring, enabling proactive process adjustments, enhanced safety margins, and compliance with industry requirements for “measurable hydrocarbon dew point”.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"329–342"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00209","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New Era of AI in Chemical Process Safety: Foundation Models","authors":"Haoyu Yang,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Tylee L. Kareck,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Qingsheng Wang*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00227","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The chemical process safety community is entering a new era driven by foundation models, shifting from task-specific, label-intensive deep learning to adaptable pretrained reasoning frameworks. This Commentary surveys how large language models (LLMs) and vision foundation models (VFMs) can address persistent bottlenecks in process safety, including data scarcity, rare-event imbalance, and limited transferability across facilities. From a language perspective, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) enables models to operationalize unstructured industrial “dark matter”, such as incident narratives, maintenance logs, management-of-change records, and standard operating procedures, into evidence-linked outputs that support auditable root cause analysis (RCA) and scalable, semiautomated hazard and operability study (HAZOP) workflows. From a vision perspective, promptable VFMs and multimodal systems advance safety monitoring beyond binary detection toward semantic segmentation and contextual discrimination, enabling interpretable, morphology-aware characterization of dynamic threats. Despite this promise, deployment in safety-critical environments demands rigorous scrutiny. We identify key barriers including hallucination risks, ontology drift, privacy, and governance constraints, as well as the inadequacy of generic benchmarks for engineering-grade requirements in reliability, traceability, and failure transparency. We also propose a roadmap centered on “data as infrastructure”, emphasizing expert-supervised synthetic supervision, domain-shaped evaluation and alignment protocols, and hybrid workflows that integrate physical knowledge and validation layers. Ultimately, foundation models should be conceptualized not as autonomous decision-makers but as transparent, context-aware reasoning layers that empower human experts to convert fragmented industrial data into actionable safety intelligence.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"171–179"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00227","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147537354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Navigating the Chemical Multiverse: An Industrial Hygienist’s Insight on Uncertainty, Exposure, and the Precautionary Principle","authors":"Jenny Houlroyd*,&nbsp; and ,&nbsp;Hilarie Warren*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00149","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Despite 350,000 registered chemicals, &lt;1% have safety data; industrial hygienists must make decisions in the face of uncertainty. This paper reimagines the Hierarchy of Controls framework (elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administration controls, and personal protective equipment) and the established industrial hygiene framework for hazard anticipation, recognition, evaluation, control, and confirmation of hazard elimination to account for the multiple chemical spaces, both at work and in personal life, in which a worker may be exposed to chemicals across the chemical multiverse, defined as the multiple chemical spaces, each defined by a unique set of descriptors that workers encounter, and the uncertainty related to the potential health effects of these emerging chemicals and technologies. This requires the adaptation of previously developed tools, exposure assessment strategies, and frameworks to manage unknown chemical exposures, and it suggests that manufacturers developing new chemicals, materials, or emerging technologies should be more explicitly encouraged to adopt a precautionary principle approach, examining the entire life cycle of a chemical or material before introducing it into commerce, to reduce potential adverse exposures from downstream usage of the chemical or material, and developing exposure monitoring methods for occupational health professionals to use to monitor worker health. This is the first paper to systematically merge the chemical multiverse concept into occupational health frameworks, providing a new holistic lens for industrial hygienists to protect workers and consumers while at the same time reinforcing the importance of stakeholder engagement and a shift to an anticipatory risk management approach to the full life cycle of chemicals, materials, and products to promote prevention of occupational illness.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"158–170"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00149","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"DNA Methylation Alterations in Benzene-Exposed Gasoline Station Workers: Insights from Singleplex MethyLight Analysis","authors":"Safia A. Messaoudi,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Norah K. Bin Abdulwahed,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Saranya Rameshbabu,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Abrar Alsaleh,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Khaled Ouanes,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Hedia Zitouni,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Rasha F. Alharthi,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Hussam S. Al-Harthi,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Mourad Assidi,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Sachil Kumar*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00170","url":null,"abstract":"<p ><b>Background</b> <b>&amp; Objective:</b> Alterations in global DNA methylation levels and repetitive elements are commonly observed in various cancers and in response to environmental pollutants, particularly petroleum products such as benzene. Long-term benzene exposure is harmful to human health and is associated with an increased risk of hematological malignancies. This study aimed to investigate the association between chronic occupational exposure to benzene and DNA methylation status in <i>TGFβ2</i>, <i>MAGE-A1</i>, and LINE-1 repetitive elements among gasoline station workers. <b>Material and Methods:</b> This case–control study included 30 male gasoline station workers and 30 male controls. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (QIAGEN) and treated with sodium bisulfite via the EpiTect Fast DNA Bisulfite Kit. Singleplex MethyLight PCR was performed to assess methylation status of <i>MAGE-A1</i>, <i>TGFβ2</i>, and LINE-1. <b>Results:</b> Significant differences were observed in working hours (<i>p</i> = 0.004) and direct benzene exposure (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001) between workers and controls. Percent MethyLight Reference (PMR) values were significantly different between the two groups for LINE-1 (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001), <i>TGFβ2</i> (<i>p</i> = 0.0194), and <i>MAGE-A1</i> (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001). <b>Conclusion:</b> Chronic benzene exposure is associated with altered DNA methylation patterns. Singleplex MethyLight analysis revealed significant PMR differences for <i>MAGE-A1</i>, LINE-1, and <i>TGFβ2</i> between benzene-exposed workers and controls, highlighting the potential of DNA methylation profiling in occupational health risk assessment.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"268–274"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00170","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chemical Security in a Fragmenting World: ASEAN as a Model for Science Diplomacy?","authors":"Fun Man Fung*,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Jamie Z. Y. Khoo,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Imee S. Martinez,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Hooi Ling Lee,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.6c00011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.6c00011","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The 2023 verification of the destruction of all declared chemical weapons stockpiles by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) marks a historic, yet potentially misunderstood, success. This commentary argues that this milestone masks a paradigm shift in the primary threat: from the destruction of legacy stockpiles to the prevention of re-emergence, a challenge now defined as chemical security. In an era of geopolitical fragmentation and economic friction that disproportionately strains the scientific capacity of the Global South, traditional multilateral frameworks are eroding. This piece posits that the “ASEAN” way─a model of regional, consensus-driven diplomacy exemplified by the successful 2025 ASEAN Summit that offers a potent alternative framework. By leveraging ASEAN’s proven mechanisms for deep technical cooperation in nontraditional security threats, such as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), this model can be adapted to address the shared vulnerabilities of chemical security. It concludes with an urgent call for Science Diplomacy, mandating that the scientific and chemical communities actively engage policymakers, integrate resilience frameworks, and utilize existing regional collaborations to ensure that chemical security is embedded within this new, effective brand of regional multilateralism.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"180–184"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.6c00011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The One Health Approach Applied to Chemistry Laboratories at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Brazil: A Case Study","authors":"Laíse Costa Borba*,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Felipe Grillo Pinheiro,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Nathália Magno Galdino,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Josias Merib,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00183","url":null,"abstract":"<p >One Health emphasizes the relationships among human, animal, and environmental health. However, this concept is rarely used when assessing the impacts of academic laboratory activities. This case study evaluated some occupational and environmental risks in laboratories at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, focusing on noise from fume hoods and on hazardous waste segregation. Noise measurements in fume hoods revealed levels that exceeded the limits considered comfortable for human hearing; however, the results are in accordance with those allowed by national and international regulations. Waste segregation practices showed a predominance of biological waste over chemical waste, indicating possible inconsistencies in the employed classification criteria to segregate mixtures. The results highlight challenges in environmental education and laboratory-safety training at both undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as a need for updated regulations adapted to the academic context. Importantly, the UFCSPA has evolved in terms of biosafety with the creation of specific sectors to mitigate health and safety issues, also providing mandatory and elective courses for both undergraduate and graduate programs focusing on addressing specific institutional demands. In addition, the implementation of One Health principles in universities may strengthen sustainable practices, reduce occupational risks, and contribute to the achievement of global sustainable development goals.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"218–226"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00183","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chemical Safety in Iranian Universities: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities in the Absence of Dedicated Regulations and Designing a Pathway toward Cultural Safety","authors":"Sayed Vahid Esmaeili,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Zahrasadat Mousavifard,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Mostafa Pouyakian*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00161","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Laboratory safety in academic settings, particularly in developing countries, is of paramount importance due to major infrastructural challenges and the emergence of new technologies. This systematic review was conducted following the systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) preferred reporting standard and incorporated gray literature using the snowballing technique. A total of 14 articles were ultimately reviewed. A synthesis of the literature review findings and an examination of Iran’s domestic regulations were employed to develop a proposed framework for advancing chemical safety in academic laboratories. The analysis revealed that the absence of specific, mandatory regulations for small-scale academic chemical users, coupled with structural challenges such as fragmented responsibilities, weak enforcement, severe infrastructure deficiencies (e.g., 50% malfunctioning fume hoods), a profound attitude-practice gap (74% vs 24%), and the identification of human factors as the primary cause of incidents, poses a serious threat to safety. By identifying the challenges in academic laboratory safety, this study proposes a practical, multifaceted, and context-specific framework based on the DISC model, encompassing the development of native guidelines, individual empowerment, and the establishment of institutional support systems to strengthen the safety culture. The study’s final finding indicates that adopting a hybrid strategy, integrating both top-down regulatory reforms and bottom-up initiatives, can provide an effective pathway for entrenching a robust safety culture within this specific context.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"198–210"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00161","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Profile of Anabolic Steroids Seized by the Federal Police in the Tri-Border Region: Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina","authors":"Viviane da S. Leandro Tymus,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Fabíola Zat Schuviecerski,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Julia Fukuro Birkheuer,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Maria Luiza R. Silva,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Ala Baghdadi,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Mayara Ali Dahrouj,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Rafaella Costa Bonugli-Santos,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Francisney Pinto do Nascimento,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Jonathan Luiz Wöhlke,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;Fernando Augusto de Freitas,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;Aline Theodoro Toci*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00130","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) has been increasing worldwide. These substances are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, popularly known for their anabolic and androgenic effects. They are primarily used by individuals engaging in physical activities who seek aesthetic enhancement and muscle mass gain. However, due to the prohibition of AAS for aesthetic purposes, the clandestine market has become an alternative for such consumers, even though it is well recognized that these products are largely noncompliant and pose serious health risks. In this study, a method was validated using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the simultaneous quantification of various esters of testosterone, drostanolone, boldenone, nandrolone, and trenbolone. The samples of anabolic steroids seized by the Federal Police of Foz do Iguaçu (Paraná, Brazil) in the tri-border region (Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina) between the periods of 2019 to 2022 and 2024 to 2025 were analyzed. The results revealed that 100% of the samples showed some form of irregularity in composition, substance concentration, or labeling. The majority of the samples, 42 (68.85%), originated from Paraguay, highlighting that the border region between Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) and Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) is a major gateway for the entry of irregular pharmaceutical products into Brazil. The study underscores the weakness of sanitary control over these substances and reinforces the risks associated with the acquisition and use of illicit anabolic steroids.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"235–245"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00130","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Safety Climate and Risk Management Practices among Laboratory Teachers in High Schools: A Comparative Study between Public and Private Sectors","authors":"C. R. Alvarez Chávez*,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;L. S. Marín,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;A. G. Germán-López,&nbsp;, ,&nbsp;A. A. Flores-Soto,&nbsp;, and ,&nbsp;F. O. Muñoz-Osuna,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acs.chas.5c00195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00195","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Despite laboratory accidents in high schools, safety culture at this educational level remains understudied, particularly in Latin America where regulatory frameworks are weak or undeveloped. This study evaluated the association between Safety Climate (CLASS-T) and Risk Management Practices (RAMP-T) in private and public high schools (state and federal) in Sonora, Mexico using self-reported data from 148 laboratory teachers from 60 schools. Overall, a positive safety climate (<i>M</i> = 2.71 ± 0.48 on a 1 to 4 scale) and moderate participation in risk management practices (<i>M</i> = 3.13 ± 0.54 on a 1 to 4 scale) were observed across participating schools. Teachers showed highest involvement in recognition of hazards and minimization of risks, and lowest involvement in assessment of risks and preparation for emergencies. A positive moderate correlation was found between CLASS-T and RAMP-T (<i>r</i> = 0.503, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01) for all high schools. Differences were identified between sectors, with private schools showing the strongest relationship (<i>R</i>² = 0.428), followed by state schools (<i>R</i>² = 0.244) and the lowest in federal schools (<i>R</i>² = 0.117). Although a positive safety climate is associated with better preventive practices, the variability observed in public sector high schools and low involvement in technical risk management practices suggest that positive perception alone does not ensure comprehensive action. These findings underscore the need for institutional action, including ongoing risk management training, and adequate resources allocation within appropriate regulatory framework regarding laboratory supplies including chemicals approved for use with youth, to ensure that positive safety climate perceptions translate into comprehensive and sustainable safety practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":73648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of chemical health & safety","volume":"33 2","pages":"290–303"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00195","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}