Competition Safety

FIRST General Forum
1

So here and there on Chief, I see a lot of the usual tips for Shop and Pit safety, such as “Wear your safety glasses”, and general shop safety. However, I think now is a great time to remind people of important things they need to start practicing before competition comes. FIRST has many safety regulations that a lot of people seem to be unaware of, and while I would love for everyone to read the manual, those that don’t should probably remember really really important ones. So think of new ones, reference the manual :slight_smile: Let’s make 2005 safe!

Be careful with spirit materials: large objects hurt if they hit your head. Trust me.

If you have to see something but can’t, climb higher in the bleachers. Not on top of people. This occurred last year at some regional I was at, and it was taken care of. However, it is still very dangerous.

Warn the people around you if there is something dangerous going on. There shouldn’t be in any occasion, but if it’s occurring you need to inform the volunteers at the event and other teams.

I like fire. A lot of people like fire. But don’t randomly play with fire in the stands…I think this warning explains itself fairly well.

I can’t think of any more warnings of the top of my head.

Edit: As mentioned below, “Wear Safety Glasses” encompasses everything :slight_smile: Thanks to Arefin and Billfred so far for elaborating on this rule.

2

I don’t think it is officially in the rules but I would say that teams should not use circular saws or chop saws over a 7" diamter blade in the pits. This should go to the same area that machining or grinding is done. Also, MOST teams (including mine) have had very dangerous battery charging setups. When the clips of the charger are on the battery terminals, it is basicaly making the battery terminal a lot bigger and if you drop a wrench or something on it huge sparks will go everywhere. Also, if you put the aligator clips in the connector, they are very close together and can easily short that way. Be careful.

3

Thanks genia for starting such a thread. I just want to point out that ALWAYS wear your safety goggles. I used to hesitate to wear safety goggles until it saved my eye. This one day I was using the drill press. The piece came out of the vice and hit me right on the glass. If the safety glass wasnt there maybe I wouldnt have my right eye right now.

-Arefin.

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  1. Never work without safety goggles. In fact, have two. One normal pair that look like glasses for when you’re just working, then a pair that look more like lab goggles for when you’re grinding things or dealing with stuff that makes a mess.
5

no, it doesnt have to be big. and also remember. Ag=-9.8m/s^2 (yay i remember my gs) so the higher up something drops the faster it hits. so the higher up something drops from, the more it hurts. and this applies to projectiles too. the higher you throw the higher it falls from. i had a leatherman come flying outta nowhere in the pits before. scary stuff

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It looks like they are making a big point this year on safety goggles in the pits and surrounding areas.

7

No more throwing objects for givaways!

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