Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence
I'd say that, like the last thread about safety, the only answer to this is to use common sense, and that the correct form of action is based on a case by case scenario. Everyone tests their robot systems while in the pits, usually to a smaller extent due to pit sizing, but everyone does it nonetheless. It's essential to getting things working. Testing is part of the engineering process (and this is an engineering competition after all). However every once in a while, like you mentioned, someone doesn't think (or doesn't know), and does something that ultimately results in an injury - either to themselves, or to someone else. Are these actions a danger? Yes. Should the mistakes of a few penalize everyone else who does these practices safely? I'd say not.
Throwing rules at the problem won't make people more safe - it'll just make more people rule-breakers. The best solution is to create a culture that respects safety and is well-educated on its finer points. Safe practices and common sense should be the norm, not the outlier. Set it as the default standard that everyone should be held to. Don't parade around a team and give them a safety award for doing what everyone should be doing already. I'm being realistic here: The average team gives 0 fluffs about the safety award. Why? Because it's not an achievement - it's a standard. Teams shouldn't be celebrated for being safe in the same way students shouldn't be celebrated for doing their homework - it's what they're supposed to do. The more safety is celebrated as "special" and treated as "outside the norm", the more it's going to become so.
If you're serious about safety, straighten up, buckle down, and make a culture within your team and your community where safe practices are expected and respected, not celebrated.
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I recognize that many times the safety award isn't necessarily awarded for great reason, and/or it's not clear to other teams why the award was given. The definition of the award, from the rulebook, is "Celebrates the team that progresses beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to eliminate or protect against hazards." Personally, I think that's a great goal - we're going beyond the basic safety stuff that every team should do (but that many forget about, thus threads like these) and celebrating teams that are actually role models for the rest of FIRST when it comes to safety. The problem we have is that often judges are "wowed" by the "safety theater" that many teams put on at events, and they miss the cool stuff that teams might do that isn't just for show.
As for the OP, if you see a team being unsafe in any regard, grab one of the UL Safety Advisors (they wear the green shirts), and clearly describe to them what you saw and what your concerns are. The Safety Advisors can then approach the team and talk to them about safe practices and hopefully get the point across.