Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Line
I have to wholeheartedly disagree with this standpoint. Operating a powertool like a table saw or mill is inherently dangerous. There is an accepted and understandable level of risk that people have to accept when doing any activity. We can strive to be accident free and have a good safety culture, but having a safety culture means understanding there is a certain amount of risk in any activity.
The safety argument you're making always sounds good - you always have the 'we can prevent accidents' and 'think of the children' arguments to fall back on. It is up to us filter those arguments through a seive of common sense that says there is a certain amount of risk pursuing any activity and that we accept that risk as part of what we do.
I disagree with restricting our ability to safety test a robot on the pit floor.
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I wholeheartedly agree.
This is a robotics competition which means there are large moving objects, power tools, pinch points, heavy lifting, etc which means by being involved in the program or being present in the pits you are exposing yourself to risks. While I agree that the pits should be a safe environment they should also be an environment that still allows teams to operate as a team which occasionally does require testing. Yes some testing can be done on the practice field however teams do not get sufficient access to practice space at events nor are they suitable for quick testing when something breaks or you need to tweak something and quickly test it before getting to your match.
Always exercise caution, talk to the team, and consult the safety advisers if you need be. I don't think a once size fits all approach works in these situations.