The rising incidence of accidents in school laboratories are the result of inadequate facilities and students' own carelessness, academics say.
An Open University survey on indoor air quality in chemical laboratories of secondary schools shows that 20 per cent of the schools polled have yet to establish emergency procedures for chemical accidents.
According to the study, 58 per cent of chemistry teachers, students and laboratory technicians said there were insufficient fume hoods in chemistry laboratories, and 38 per cent felt the exhaust system was not powerful enough.
Ho Kin-chung, programme leader in environmental studies at the university, said the findings indicated that there was a general worry over indoor air pollution during experiments involving the use of vaporised chemicals and organic solvents.
However, he believed both human factors and inadequate facilities should be taken into account in trying to explain accidents.
According to the Education Department, there were 966 accidents in secondary school laboratories in the past school year, representing a 12 per cent increase compared with 856 mishaps in the previous academic year.
It was the highest since 1995, when the department started monitoring accidents.