End Safety Theater

[EricH]

At IE, most of the teams "yelling" robot were at least quiet about it. More like saying.

Except for one mentor who yelled it at the top of his lungs--and his team pit was near inspection, where robots were constantly moving. The LRI went over after one of those yells, muttering something under his breath about "enough is enough", and apparently asked him to tone it down--didn't hear him again all event.



I agree with efoote, though. I think more safety would happen if the metric used wasn't necessarily signs and theater, but actual incident logs and incident avoidance measures (including training, response plans, and reviews when incidents happen).

[Seth Mallory]

Originally Posted by EricH

At IE, most of the teams "yelling" robot were at least quiet about it. More like saying.

Except for one mentor who yelled it at the top of his lungs--and his team pit was near inspection, where robots were constantly moving. The LRI went over after one of those yells, muttering something under his breath about "enough is enough", and apparently asked him to tone it down--didn't hear him again all event.



I agree with efoote, though. I think more safety would happen if the metric used wasn't necessarily signs and theater, but actual incident logs and incident avoidance measures (including training, response plans, and reviews when incidents happen).

If you look in post 11 you would see what I look for. Since 2007 I have used what the teams can show me about their safety program at their shop and how they handle things at the event. Signs have had little meaning to me. Another school near 192 had a very bad accident. By having the manuals, written training and testing records, and the fact the students could answer the districts questions we were able to keep open without any changes. The other school had many new limits put on their program. At an event teaching is more importsnt then giving an award. The goal is so that each team has the same number of fingers and toes that they started with.

[Carolyn_Grace]

At competition this past weekend, I listened carefully during the Safety Award. I think I pinpointed why teams insist on "Safety Theater."

The Safety Award "Celebrates the team that progresses beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to eliminate or protect against hazards."

"Beyond"
"Innovative"

These are two key words in the award description. The teams that act in the Safety Theater are really just fulfilling the spirit of this award, and hard to blame them when this is how it's encouraged.

Maybe people can suggest changes to how the award should be described in the official manual?

[dgsav24]

I agree; as safety captain I get harassed for feeling this way, but feel as if targeting other robotics members is just annoying and a waste of time. Teams should target people who do not already know proper safety, these being freshmen, new members, etc. These people should be taught in the shop, before competition.