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At Utah this weekend the safety folks were good learners. Early on they told our safety captain to tell us to yell "robot". I quickly pulled both her and the safety advisor aside and reminded them why this was a bad idea. By the end of the day inspectors were actively telling teams to say "excuse us please", and the award went to the team who were the quietest and most professional, and whose pit was the cleanest. Congrats team 2437!

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You have no idea. There is a safety inspector who worships gloves. Picking up a robot without gloves? Put it down. Using a sawzall without gloves, you must stop. Using a drill press or a mini-lathe? Gloves. He walks around with a bag of gloves that he forces teams to "borrow". I was about ready to explode when the guy told me I needed to wear gloves while grinding a piece of aluminum on the grinding wheel in the machine shop.

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While I agree that "safety theatre" can be overdone, I think it's important to remember that there's a difference between doing things safely and having a safety culture. If safety is going to be not just a practice but a fundamental value, it will have to get expressed somehow.

And I don't mind posters telling me things I already know. I'm also an auto racing marshal. At our morning briefings, the corner captain will go over a bunch of safety procedures that every marshal knows. I used to find it redundant until one of my captains explained the reason behind them to me: those briefings help to move that knowledge into our "active memory" where it can be accessed quickly and easily. Now that I'm a corner captain myself, I give these briefings myself, but I explain why to my crew. I see these safety posters as fulfilling a similar purpose.

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I agree that yelling of "ROBOT! ROBOT!" when no one is around and the path is clear is pretty silly and unnecessary. However, this weekend I was at a regional where many teams weren't saying ANYTHING when they pulled the robots through the crowded and narrow aisles.

I think we have to be careful when telling people that they don't have to say "robot" when moving through the pits. Many teams were pulling out of their pits and almost running over their own members and visitors. Worse when moving along the aisles they were narrowly clipping bystanders and I was almost hit several times by teams who were pushing large carts without saying a word.

Even more were moving these large carts without anyone walking in front to help (politely) clear a path. It was pretty much mayhem.

Also, the comparison to grocery carts isn't fair. Grocery carts aren't that heavy and most grocery stores aren't that crowded and loud for so long. So please say, "Robot coming through, excuse us!" or something equally polite. But please say SOMETHING and say it SOMEWHAT loud. ::safety::

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From what I have seen, the teams winning the safety awards are the ones with a lot of money and abundance of safety theater.
My team can't afford to buy 100 pairs of extra safety glasses, print MSDS sheets and evacuation plans for all the teams, buy medicine calenders for the elderly, and provide gloves for all of our team members. It's just not possible.
What we can do is create a killer safety training program for our participants and teach other teams how to create a safe environment for their participants as well. We can formulate the safest route of robot travel to the field to prevent potential robot back-ups and injuries and design our pit around functional safety.
I am not saying that the safety awards are meaningless, because these teams put a LOT of effort into safety. I just wish that teams could have a level playing field financially when it comes to the safety awards.. :)

2013 Winner of the Industrial Safety Award at the DC Regional
2X Star of the Day

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I agree; as safety captain I get harassed for feeling this way, but feel as if targeting other robotics members is just annoying and a waste of time. Teams should target people who do not already know proper safety, these being freshmen, new members, etc. These people should be taught in the shop, before competition.