[nagdu] Keeping Your Lab Safe in Chem Lab

[Larry D. Keeler]

What school?  At Eastern Michigan, we had offices right off the lab.  If you 
could get a lab bench near one of those, you could put him in there so that 
he could see you.  I'm not sure what I would have done!  And yah, the spills 
and fumes can be unpredictable even though we did most of that work under 
the hood.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hayden Dahmm" <hwdahmm at live.com>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 9:41 PM
Subject: [nagdu] Keeping Your Lab Safe in Chem Lab








Hi everyone,



I’m a college sophomore, and I just recently received my
first guide dog, Fathom, from the Seeing Eye.
Fathom is a happy Lab Retriever Cross, and he’s doing a truly spectacular
job.



I’m excited to introduce Fathom to my college campus, but I
have one concern.  In the Fall, I will be
taking Inorganic Chemistry.  The course instructors
have correctly pointed out that the chemistry lab environment is potentially
dangerous for a dog.  The space is frequently
cleaned, but there could be chemical residue or glass shards on the floor. 
I, of course, am extremely concerned for
Fathom’s safety, but the labs usually last three hours, far too long for me 
to
leave Fathom alone at such an early point in our relationship.  I have 
suggested that I get a collapsible crate
to put in the corner, so that Fathom will not be on the ground, but will 
still
have me in sight.  This is not a perfect
solution, as a variety of things could go wrong in a lab.  Another option is 
to leave him in an office nearby;
I could check in on him every ten minutes or so.  I don’t feel comfortable 
with the second
option though, because he might feel stranded in an unfamiliar place. 
Furthermore, this would require that I interrupt
my work, remove my safety gear and walk down the hall a dozen times in a 
session.



I will be meeting with the lab instructor and disability
services personnel on Monday (Aug 13) to discuss my options.  If anyone has 
dealt with this problem or has
suggestions as to how both Fathom and I could be made safe and happy, I 
would appreciate
hearing your thoughts.



Best Regards,

Hayden Dahmm

Swarthmore, ‘15

610-405-0098


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