I was wondering if any team that has won the Bruce Power Safety Award would be able to let me know what kind of innovative and creative ways you encouraged safety, increased it or further brought it to the awareness of other teams.
We had a safety post listing safety rules, serious and funny rules. We gave away safety glasses. And most of all, we consistently practiced safely working on the robot, such as unplugging the battery while working on it, bleeding the pneumatics ,etc. Just point out simple safe things you do to the safety judges when they are walking around. Go get 'em!
My team was the Chesapeake safety award winner.
Basic points.
Aways wear safety glasses in the pits. ALWAYS
Never be afraid to loan safety glasses.
Never ever think about letting someone in the pits not have their safety glasses on their eyes, your team or not.
Keep pits immaculate.
Have tools that are most used on the robot out on table in an organized fashion.
Have a first aid kit handy.
Have ear protection and gloves handy.
Lift heavy objects like robot with legs not back.
Whenever operating robot make sure everyone is clear from the are that the robot is able to move in.
When operating robot, make sure it is properly supported ie: testing drive train.
Don’t preach safety around judges and then forget about it when they leave, BE SAFE FOR REAL
Safety is an all the time occurrence not just a thing you show off for an award.
Just some things to keep in mind 
.
-Henry
Bah! Henry beat me! Oh well. One thing Henry forgot to mention from our team that we stress is when the robot is being transported. Make sure someone is constantly watching it, supporting it by keeping a hand on a part that may just spring out and hit someone. But don’t hurt yourself! You don’t want it falling off the cart and hurting someone. Also have someone out front to warn others of a passing robot.
Peace, and BE SAFE! 
-Brian
We never won the award, but the judges like when you lift the robot, do a 4 person lift and talk to each other. Make sure you know where you’re carrying the robot to! If you yell “Watch fingers”! they will see you’re being safety concious.
We won two Solae Dailey Safety Awards and the grand safety award at the Boilermaker regional.
A member on our team came up with a very interesting and creative way to keep our pit safe. We had an inovative lock out system that included lock out boxes and locks with the member’s picture on it.
Here’s what he posted on our forum:
This year there will be an award for Safty. I am working with JED to form a ssytem for Lockouts.
There are 9 locks (more if needed).
These locks hang on the “Lock Rack” with their key inside the keyhole. (The keys dont fall out, we tried to shake them out, they dont come out unless you pull them out.) There will be “Do Not Operate” tages for everyone on the team. They will have a picture of you and your name on them.
To Lock out something:
- Grab the apropriate Lockout device. (usualy the Lockout for the connector for the battery- Put on robot side, not battery!)
- Place Lockout device on what is to be locked out.
- Take an apropriate lock from the rack (do not take one from somewhere else for someone-else might be using it) and get your tag from the box of tags.
- Each key will hav a keyring with a clasp on it. After locking the lock on the Lockout device, remove the key and clasp onto the front of your shirt. There is a hole in your front pocket on your team shirt that you can feed it trough. DO NOT LOOSE THIS KEY. To see the clasp, click the link at the bottom.
- After finishing your task on the robot, remove your lock and leave the key in the lock and return the lock to the rack. if you are the last person to remove your lock from the device, return the lockout device to its proper storage area. Make sure you place your tag back in the box.
If somone already has a Lockout Device on the robot with a lock on it and you would like to work on the robot:
follow steps 3-5.
If your lock will take the last open spot on the lockout device, get a lockout expander (adds 6 holes) and place your lock on that after attaching it into the last whole. If you have a lock on an expander, remember to return it if you are the last person to remove your lock from it.
If you cannot find your key, appropriate measures will be taken to replace the missing key.
There is a master key that the pit-boss has. HE will not open anyone’s lock unless their key cannot be found or the robot is about to go out and the person cant be found.
If you have a lock on the robot, don not leave the pit area (or even our station for that matter).
Tags left outside the box that are not on locks will be taken. These tags are personal representations of you. If a lock is left out, the person who is using it will be asked to return it if they are not going to use it soon. The tag and the lock should be together durring the entire time that you are using it.
I leave everyone in FIRST with the number one rule when it comes to safety:
Just a suggestion.
Print something on your team t-shirt to promote safety.
We earned the safety award at the Sacramento Regionals this year. I don’t need to re-hash how we did it. Just read Henry’s Bullet points and follow them! Safety is simple, you just need to Make It Happen, it won’t happen by it’s self.
Jillian,
Awesome Lock Out system!!!
I worked in the medical imaging field for 20 years (can you spell X-Ray???). We took a safety course every year in “LOTO” Lock Out Tag Out. I can’t tell you how many lives it saved. Yes, I am serious, Lives. When you work with 480Vac and DC in the neighborhood of 120,000 volts, LOTO is serious.
Great post Jillian!!! Hats off to your team.
Our three early birds were the only ones that had their safety glasses with them on Thursday.
We always secured our robot, kept our pit area clean, and formed a protective barrier around the robot whenever we worked on it.
–Petey