Safety Issue: Robots Moving in Pits

Originally Posted by robochick1319

I agree with you on many points. My team takes safety very seriously but as my incident shows it doesn't matter how safe we are if those working in our area make blatantly wrong and unsafe decisions. Especially when they do these things after being told they are unsafe and even seeing that they are unsafe.

Maybe FIRST can't make a solid rule in the manual. Maybe volunteers could just go around enforcing the "no testing the robot on the floor of the pit" rule just like they enforce the safety glasses rule. The only way it will become a standard is if we start addressing it like a standard.

I know your team is safe (Flash is one of the great role models in safety) - I'm saying this is something the community needs to do. It's a culture that needs to be made and respected by everyone. There doesn't need to be rules against potentially dangerous things (like testing in the pits) if the potential for danger is removed from the equation by everyone executing safe practices. I love testing my robot on the floor of the pit - it is a quick and easy way to make testing game object collection and small driving tests more reliable and realistic to being on a field, and as long as I am taking the right precautions in regards to the safety of myself, my team, and those around me, I see no reason why I should be required to not test as I please. The same applies for everyone else. Like I said - it's a case by case scenario. If Johnny Teammember is doing some unsafe testing, maybe the pit safety advisers can take away his team's privileges of testing in the pit until they understand how to correctly and safely test, but there's still no reason why everyone else should be punished because of the actions of a minority group of people.

You are right that the only way it will become a standard is by addressing it as one, and the proper way to do so is to educate everyone on the correct way of action instead of punishing everyone for something they didn't do.