How to deal with old chemicals in a school science store

Today: look, and leave anything that worries you

Your first task is a look round with nothing in your hands. Do not lift bottles down to read the back. Do not try a stuck lid, and do not wipe away any crust or crystals to see the label.

Two chemicals explain why. Picric acid is stored damp for a reason. If it has dried out, or if crystals have formed around the lid, it can be sensitive to shock and friction. Sodium metal should sit under oil in a closed container. If the oil has gone, the metal will have grown a crust, and water contact can start a fire. Department for Education guidance names picric acid and 2,4-DNPH among chemicals that require specialist disposal if they have not been stored correctly.

Add old ethers to that list, and anything else that is bulging, corroding, leaking or undated and alarming.

If you find one of these:

1. Do not move it. That includes moving it somewhere that feels safer.
2. Close and lock the store, and keep staff and pupils out.
3. Tell your head of science and a member of the senior team.
4. Arrange a specialist assessment. Contact your advisory service too, which will be CLEAPSS for most of the UK and SSERC in Scotland.
5. If there is immediate danger, evacuate the area and call 999. Tell them what is in the store.

Keep a note of what you saw and where you saw it. A phone picture taken from where you stand, without moving anything, can help the specialist.

This week: agree who owns the problem

A science store is often treated as the technician's private burden. It should not be. The chemicals belong to the school, and so does the duty to manage them. Book a short meeting with the head of science and whoever holds the premises budget. In a multi-academy trust, include the central estates or compliance lead, as there may be a group contract or a policy you need to follow.

Ask three things at that meeting. What do the school's existing COSHH assessments say about the store? Is there an inventory from any previous year? When is the next period without practical lessons, so the store can be closed for a day? Exam season and the last weeks of the summer term are the times most departments have room for this.

This half term: build the list

Department for Education guidance says an up-to-date inventory is essential, and points out that the fire service will need one in the event of a fire on site. If yours is out of date, this job fixes it.

Work one shelf at a time, and only with containers that are sound. For each one, record the name, the size, how full it is, its condition and where it is. A few clues help date old stock. Orange square hazard symbols predate the current diamond pictograms. Imperial sizes, old supplier names and glass stoppers suggest considerable age. Each helps the person assessing your list.

Then ask the teaching question: do we use this? Go through the list with your head of science and mark each line as keep, surplus or waste. Schemes of work change. A chemical that supported an old practical may have sat unopened for fifteen years, and a clear decision to let it go shrinks the store and the risk with it. Keep the oldest stock accessible and use it first, as the guidance advises.

Planning the clearance with your school in mind

School clearances have their own constraints, and raising them early prevents problems later.

Timing comes first. Try to avoid lesson changeovers, breaks and exam days. Then access: a driver needs a route from the prep room to the vehicle that avoids pupils, and a prep room on the second floor with no lift affects both timing and price. Safeguarding also applies, as the visitors will be on site under your normal arrangements. Have keys, a contact and your list ready.

There are some jobs to leave undone. Nobody should consolidate bottles beforehand, top up oil, re-wet anything or try to neutralise old acids to save money. Staff may offer in good faith, particularly those who have long experience. Thank them and say no. Stock left in its original container is far easier for a specialist to identify and pack.

On the day of the collection

Keep the store closed to lessons. The specialist team will check your list against the shelves, sort the containers by compatibility and pack them for transport. Items flagged during the assessment will be dealt with under their own arrangements, which may happen on a separate day.

Before the vehicle leaves, the consignment note must be completed. In England you keep one copy and give two to the carrier. Check the school's name and address are correct, and that the description matches what you are seeing go. Never sign a blank or a part-completed note.

School premises in Wales may also need registering as a producer, as Natural Resources Wales requires it above 500kg of hazardous waste a year. A consignment note is needed there either way.

Afterwards: the file and the store

File the consignment note where someone other than you could find it. It must be kept for three years. Update your inventory the same day, as the store will never again be this easy to record.

Then decide how you will prevent a repeat. Add a date on arrival and a date on opening to every new bottle. Schedule a stock check each year, with a named person responsible. Review how you hold emergency information, so the emergency services could be told what is present on a day you are absent. And keep at least one other member of staff trained on the store, which the guidance also recommends.

A one-off job such as this is what our school chemical clearance work is designed around, from the first look at the list to the paperwork on file.