[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by Cory

This is another topic entirely, but to be blunt, we felt the vast majority of the UL safety people were more trouble than they were worth.

Cory, Cory, Cory - you just may have forfeited some safety tokens!!! This is probably a separate thread discussion, but...

FIRST has to be very visible with a safety program to assure the schools, parents and sponsors that we're serious about preventing injuries and accidents. UL provides validation for the contents of the FIRST Safety Manual and training to the Safety Advisors. Their Safety Awards are a very visible display of the importance of safety in FIRST.

Yeah, sometimes the Safety Advisors can go overboard. If you have issues with how things are being handled at an event, you should discuss them with the lead Safety Advisor to try to get it resolved. Last year, when the "no bandsaws and drill presses in the pits decree" was issued by FIRST, I talked with the LA Regional Lead Safety Advisor about setting up a "quick cut/drill station" near the machine shop area. He was very helpful and we had a plan in place to do this. FIRST rescinded that decree the next day, but the fact that FIRST Safety was willing to work with teams to allow them to do what they need to do to get their robots competition ready - safely.