BC5802 Chemical Safety and Toxicology Assignment 2026 | UCC

BC5802 Chemical Safety and Toxicology Assignment: Toxicological Review and Chemical Risk Assessment

The UCC BC5802 assignment gives each student a different chemical. Project 1 is a toxicological review written so laboratory workers can understand it, focusing on Section 11 of the Safety Data Sheet. Project 2 is a qualitative chemical risk assessment (CRA) for one of two laboratory scenarios, judging whether the handling conditions are safe and what that means for the employee and employer.

Project 1: Toxicological Review of the Assigned Chemical (50 marks)

• Each student is assigned a different chemical or molecule and carries out a toxicological review of it.
• Present the toxicological profile in an easy-to-understand format so it could be understood by laboratory workers.
• The review should help in understanding the toxicological terminology used in Safety Data Sheets (Section 11 of the SDS relates to toxicology).
• Use the literature sources covered in the lectures; all information must be referenced.

Marking

• Introduction: setting the scene and explaining what you intend to do (5 marks)
• Written review of toxicological information from various sources in a readable but factual format; small tables of key toxicological data can help (35 marks)
• Diversity and range of sourced references (10 marks)

The examiner places strong emphasis on scientific language and expression, accurate punctuation and spelling, relevant photos, figures or tables, and clear referencing.

Project 2: Chemical Risk Assessment (50 marks)

Each student is assigned a chemical and a scenario and carries out a chemical risk assessment for scenario (a) or (b). The assessor’s personal judgement should back up classical qualitative risk assessment templates, and the overall outcome is to assess whether the conditions and handling practices are safe.

Scenarios

• (a) An employee is worried about the possibility of getting cancer from working with the designated chemical in a laboratory: typically lab-scale quantities, within ventilated booths, daily for 30 to 60 minutes.
• (b) Safety concerns of a pregnant employee working in a laboratory where the chemical is handled by other employees: lab-scale quantities, within ventilated booths, daily for 4 hours.

Key headings and marks

• Introduction: workplace scenario (5 marks)
• Main hazards of the designated chemical, in bullet points (5 marks)
• Exposure limits, routes of exposure and controls (5 marks)
• Risk assessment (20 marks): toxicological reasoning; high, medium or low risk of exposure; implications for the employee; implications for the employer
• Toxicological risk assessment summary using the basic concepts (10 marks)
• References (5 marks)

CRA templates and e-tools (for example Irish HSA guidance, the COSHH e-tool or the REACH ART tool) can be used, but professional judgement is expected; there is no single perfect answer.