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Unread 29-04-2010, 04:17
sanddrag sanddrag is offline
On to my 16th year in FRC
FRC #0696 (Circuit Breakers)
Team Role: Teacher
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Rookie Year: 2002
Location: Glendale, CA
Posts: 8,519
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Re: Safety Award: What would you like to see?

I hadn't even thought of the paper flyers several teams hand out, "promoting" safety. I fully agree, that these paper flyers are more of a hazard than a help. It does no team any good to have 20 pieces of paper they don't want lying around their pit. All it takes is for one to fall down (as mentioned above) to cause an accident. Furthermore, every time someone stops walking to read one (or put one up for that matter), is just one more time someone else yells "ROBOT! coming through!" blowing out another person's ears.

Safety shouldn't be something you have to promote, or market, or sell. It doesn't need silly flyers, buttons, or loud yelling. It needs careful instruction by experienced mentors and professionals, over a period of several months prior to the competition.

I like the idea of the safety award not necessarily being given out at every event. I would enjoy seeing every team stop competing for this award. The award should only be given to deserving teams who have structured their entire year-long program around safe practices, and demonstrate safe practices within their own team without drowning others in propaganda.

I might add one personal experience with safety advisors one year:

We had the robot sitting up on a KOP crate turned upside down, so we could work on it at a more reasonable level. This has been standard practice on our team for years. A safety advisor told us we should not work on it elevated, because it could fall. Alright, we set it down. I gently had a hand on the top of it, while casually overseeing the continuing work. Moments later, I was told not to lean on the robot, as it could roll away and injure someone, and that we should be using wheel chocks any time the robot is parked on the floor.

Would wheel chocks not be a tripping hazard, when the robot is removed (if they are left) ?

A lot of the safety stuff has gone too far, for no real reason at all.

So long as everyone has safety glasses, your pit area is clean, and you aren't trying to rip a sheet of plywood with a circular saw in midair in a 10x10 pit with 10 people in it (yes I've seen it), and you keep your fingers out of powered robots, I think you're being safe, and you shouldn't be hassled any further (for MSDS sheets, and so on).
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Teacher/Engineer/Machinist - Team 696 Circuit Breakers, 2011 - Present
Mentor/Engineer/Machinist, Team 968 RAWC, 2007-2010
Technical Mentor, Team 696 Circuit Breakers, 2005-2007
Student Mechanical Leader and Driver, Team 696 Circuit Breakers, 2002-2004
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