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What are Hazardous Materials in Early Childhood Settings?

Charlotte Hendricks, PhD

May 18, 2020

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Question

What are hazardous materials in early childhood settings?

Answer

A hazardous material (HAZMAT) is any substance that can be harmful to the health, property, or the environment. Hazardous materials are classified based on the health effects that they have. Another term that you need to recognize is dangerous goods. Dangerous goods (DG) are classified according to the immediate physical or chemical effects such as a fire, explosion, corrosion, and poisoning.

In early childhood, the term that we think of the most is poison. Sometimes I'll say HAZMAT and sometimes I'll say poison. But all of these are substances that could be harmful to children and adults in the early childhood setting. Poisons are any substance that can cause an unintended symptom, including severe organ damage or death. Notice it's unintended symptoms. For example, if an adult is taking heart medication, an intended result of taking that medication is it helps the heart. But if a child gets hold of that heart medication and takes it, then unintended symptoms that could occur could be severe organ damage.

HAZMATS may be liquids, solids, sprays, gases, or a combination of these types of products. The form that the material is in may increase the health risk of the product. HAZMATS can be ingested substances, they may be breathed in, injected, or absorbed through the skin, or in the case of aerosols, through the eyes. Any substances that can be harmful.

Common HAZMATs

  • Aerosol sprays
  • Bleaches 
  • Essential oils
  • Fuels 
  • Lithium batteries
  • Paints, thinner, remover
  • Ammunitions
  • Dry ice 
  • Fragrances 
  • Insecticides 
  • Nail polish/remover
  • Alcohols
  • CO2 canisters
  • Fertilizers 
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Mercury 
  • Pool chemicals

If you look at transportation.gov or have done any flying in the airlines, you know that there is a list of hazardous materials that you cannot have. These include any aerosol sprays, bleaches, essential oils, fuels, lithium batteries, fertilizer, or hand sanitizer. Those are common ones. Let's talk about hand sanitizer. You can have a tiny amount of hand sanitizer as long as it's in a 3.4 ounce or smaller container that fits in your Ziploc bag, but you can't carry an entire bottle of hand sanitizer in your carry-on luggage because it's considered a hazardous material. Nail polish and remover are hazardous materials. When you look at the terms HAZMAT you have to look at who is actually defining them.

This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Avoiding Exposure to Hazardous Materials in ECE Settings, in partnership with Region 9 Head Start Association, by Charlotte Hendricks, PhD.


charlotte hendricks

Charlotte Hendricks, PhD

Dr. Charlotte Hendricks has promoted health education for young children, families, and teachers for over 30 years and pioneered curriculum development and evaluation for preschool health education. Nationally recognized as a leader in her field, her career has spanned public health, higher education, Head Start, and research. She often presents to early childhood programs and at state and national conferences, delivering high energy presentations to illustrate practical and cost-effective approaches to best practice, national standards, and issues facing today’s early childhood staff and families.

Charlotte served as Editor for Healthy CHILDCare magazine for 16 years and has published extensively, including HIP on Health®: Health Information for Caregivers and Families and Growing, Growing Strong: A Whole Health Curriculum for Young Children. Her latest book, Redleaf Quick Guide to Disaster Planning and Preparedness in Early Childhood and Schoolage Care Settings, exemplifies her ability to present essential information in an easy-to-follow format.


Related Courses

Disaster Preparedness for ECE Settings, in partnership with Region 9 Head Start Association
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Children are much more vulnerable than adults to exposures of hazardous materials; young children account for more than half of poison exposures reported every year. This course provides information for programs to help them follow policy and procedures for safe use, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials. This course is presented in partnership with Region 9 Head Start Association's Training West.

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