End Safety Theater

[artdutra04]

Genuine safety is the result of a culture of striving to achieve high quality, attention to details both small and large, maximizing the efficiency of work and operations, and always looking to improve and iterate. One cannot achieve high quality without safety, as both safety and quality is achieved through the elimination of mistakes.

Posters generally do not contribute to the elimination of mistakes unless there is a high level of uneducation among the target audience, or the sign or visual indicator is alerting a person of a danger that might not be immediately apparent. I do not see any epidemic of people not wearing safety glasses in the pits, so posters saying as much are of marginal value. However a sign along the outside of the fields that warns people that objects may leave the field is valuable for a visitor such as a grandparent who may not be familiar with FRC.

In addition, there are some completely unnecessary things that every now and then a "Safety Advisor" will complain about. Usually it's something like not having a book of MSDS sheets for normal consumer products (seriously, the safety information for rubbing alcohol is on the label on the product) or not having a battery spill clean up kit for non-spillable batteries (never understood this one) or not wearing gloves to pick up the robot (it's entirely possible to design robots that can be lifted without cutting or digging into your skin).