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Originally Posted by DoughBoy
One of our members became safety officer and they want to know what you think is the responsibility of the safety officer.
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The first step is always to read the Safety Manual from UL for the current year, it contains what you need to form the basics of a safety program if there is not already a team program in place.
I am a former safety captain of my team, and we have won the Championship award twice and many regional safety awards as well. If you would like, I would be happy to help explain how our team's program works and give your captain tips on creating and improving a sustainable safety program and culture within your team.
The safety captain does more than just wear the green button. I see many teams just pass off the responsibility to the freshman who doesn't seem to have anything else to do. It is VERY important that your team has not just one person in charge of safety, but that every team member helps exude a culture of safe practices at all times, whether or not a judge is watching. The safety captain should be an expert in the field and make it his/her mission to bring everyone on the team up to his/her knowledge level throughout the build season with a rigorous training program, as well as be able to enforce their team's practices and guidelines throughout the season and competition.
It is also their responsibility to continuously expand the program. No-one is perfect from the start, and no-one is perfect years later meaning there is ALWAYS room for improvement. The safety captain should never strive to do just what is in the UL manual, that is merely a skeleton set of rules that MUST be enforced for the minimum level of safety. That is what they expect
all teams to have in place. A good team will have a program that rivals and even surpasses that of a real-life manufacturing facility. In order to improve, your captain should go and talk to real-life safety advisers in the field, have them review your program and suggest modifications and improvements. People in industry who do safety for a living will know what new regulations are be enforced, new standards being released, and will help you build your program. Practices like LOTO (Lock-Out Tag-Out), 5's (my personal favorite), and Lean Manufacturing are good places to start looking.
You are using industrial-grade machinery and will need an industrial-grade safety program to match. It is not worth a team member permanently injured for a mistake they made in a short season of FRC that could have been prevented with proper training and recognition of hazards. For this reason, safety was always a passion of mine while I was on the team and this passion through the years in not only our safety captains but our entire team is what led to our team becoming one of the forerunners in safety for FIRST robotics.
Once again, I would love to help your new safety captain grow in his/her new role. I remember being a new safety captain many years ago and I have helped many new safety captains since through Chief Delphi and in-person mentoring. Send me a PM if you are interested!
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Originally Posted by LilsisdeRosie
I was safety captain for my team. I definately suggest looking and READING the FIRST Safety manual throughly. Also what i did was look at some safety methods used in the industry. If they need any help, tell them they are free to contact me and i would be glad to help! 
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Glad to see you're still in the safety business! I remember helping you out when you were a new safety captain a couple years ago
