we had 60 or so. The teams that were mentioned at UCF all had more that 70 (or something close to that. I don’t really remember).
I know we got a lot more at our second regional than we did at our first…probably because we discovered what it takes to make a nice, safe, orderly pit area. We added things like shelves, spare parts bins, broom/dustpan, and a “wear your safety glasses” sign.
And our team safety captain did a great job of keeping other team members alert to safety issues.
We got over 30 at Boilermaker.
We had about 25 at UTC and we won the safety pins. It seems like it varies a lot between regionals.
Team 1598 got 46 at VCU. We did not hear any award given to the team with the most. We did have one of our students get the Safety Star Award for Saturday. I think it was a good program at VCU. It let the students know when they were being safe. We wore glasses and gloves all the time and got tokens for that.
I don’t know how many 648 had at Midwest but we lead with the most. Those little safety helmet pins are the most important award for me. I’d rather see everyone stay safe than win the national chairman’s anyday.
[edit] Adam Reab won the Safety All-Star Award on Friday… and he’s a rookie! Looks like we’re growin’ 'em safe in Illowa.[/Edit]
Team 1402 had something like 12 credits, not counting the ones we kept as solveneers. lol, but the team that won the safty award at CFR (UCF) was 1448 and they had some sick amount like 188 or 189. something close to that… and i wouldn’t argue. their pit was much more clean and orginized than ours and everytime i saw someone there in their pit, they always had safty glasses on and all that good stuff.
Congrats to all the team showing how safe they are to everyone. and good luck in Atlanta.
(EDIT), whoops, just realized i spelled central wrong in my signiture
We won the UL Safety Award in Davis-Sacramento with somewhere around 40 credits.
Really, this award is an interesting idea. I don’t think it justifies anyone to say “We were the SAFEST team at the regional”, however it does promote a different attitude toward safety by providing a form of positive reinforcement. I personally saw a lot of teams creating safe methods of working; I’m sure the creation of this award is a direct cause. Like any award though, it is a judge’s call in the end and should be treated as such. 
I would really like to know what caused teams to get outrageously high numbers of tokens at some regional… and what else a team can do for safety recognition. We made safety posters with good practices and hung them on the sides of the tent entering the pit. Also made signs to put on various parts of the robot and pit area for pinch points and potentially hot/sharp/dangerous spots.
We had about 50ish at FLR and I am just wondering what other teams did to boost their teams safety practices.
When he safety judges come around, they are looking for safe behavior both in the pits and aournd the robot. Thhis means wearing safety glasses at all times, using gloves when using power tools like drills or reciprocating/jig/circular saws. Te safety tokens are so that teams can reward other teams for their behavior. The UL Industrial Safety Award is for the team that the judges found to act in the safest way. I have learned all of these lessons the hard way, and am in no hurry to repeat them. In the three regionals I have gone to, we have won all of the safety awards (2005 and 2006). As safety captain, I want to share what our team has learned:
-Safety glasses must be very comfortable. Get the most expensive kind, because it’s worth it in the long run. (Forgetting that you’re wearing safety glasses is a good thing!)
-Do not buy tinted (colored), shaded, or reflective safety glasses. With the tinted ones you cannot see certain colors (yellow glasses makes gas flame invisible :yikes: ) and the shaded/reflective ones prevent eye contact.
-Before the build season begins, gave a tool crash course and also a shop safety course so that new people get used to the safety rules.
And finally…
-Make sure everyone follows the safety rules that your team createss and make NO exceptions.
This is as much as I can think of. The very best safety captain is your own common sense.
Have fun, and always remember Safety FIRST!!!
So true, I had horrible saftey glasses at GLR because they always fogged up from sweating and stuff. I’m gonna be looking into ordering/purchasing some with my own money that are much more comfortable and less prone to being an annoyance (which is probably why most people dislike saftey glasses and neglect to use them around their own person work space).
Yeah, I’m going to agree with this one. The cheap ($1 each) ones we used to have drove me crazy … some instances I found myself leaving the pits just to take them off (this was several years ago). Safety glasses don’t bother me anymore, probably because I’m required to wear them at work (ALL DAY), thankfully I have finally found a pair that is comfortable and fit me right. I found myself often sitting in the stands at our regional and not knowing I had them on …
Anyways, not to hijack it … but for a nice selection at a decent price … www.safetyglassesusa.com - they’re reasonably priced so you can order a few different ones and see which you like the best. If you’re going to Atlanta, I’d suggest trying a pair of the indoor/outdoor ones … they have a slight tinting on them that is perfect for the bright floor of the dome.
As for the Pit Admin person giving chips for returning glasses … that just seems wrong to me. Even if you were borrowing them … giving chips for returning them is just lame. Not to mention, if you return the safety glasses, you won’t be wearing them … which would mean that you’re in the pits without safety glasses on, and you’re getting chips for it? Cmon … lets be real here.
I don’t recall how many tokens we got, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or 50 at the Sac/Davis Regional. We came in 3rd for the Safety award. I was rather surprised, the large vise we had in our pit area, made the safety adviser cringe sometimes when kids brought reciprocating saws over and cut large things on it (Specifically, I recall a student with a 2ft 2x4 ripping it down the center … of course I was watching it the whole time, it was still a little scary)
When i was Safety Captain at the LA Regional i was able to get 25-26 total chips. It was about 50%-50% from safety inspectors and other teams. And i did give my 5 away too.
at the palmetto regional we won the credit award with about 40ish chips
I was one of the Safety Captians for our team, and we recieved 59 chips at the Finger Lakes Regional (which my co safety captian and i along with a really cool girl from Chuck team 84 won Safety Star of The Day) and ended up winning The UL Industrial Safety Award.
We also Compete at the Philly Regional where we recieved 52 safety credits(I was also safety star of the day at Philly) and ended up winning the UL Industrial Safety Award as well.
~Remember saftey goes far beyond WEARING YOUR SAFETY GLASSES (but thats always a good idea)
Well when we were in Florida we got stunning 108 but at Purdue we got around 35 and Columbia only 32. Anyone know why Florida Safety guys were handing them out like candy?
(Not that I am complaining–I did get a cool safety hat pin)
I don’t know about Florida specifically, but I know in LA we gave out many more than some regionals.
As Safety advisors our reasoning was that the Safety Credits did no one any good sitting in the box. So we gave out as many as we could. This probably lead to a sort of “inflation” in the Safety Credits, ie each one was worth less than it might have been at another regional. OTOH there was a lot more “credit” floating around.
I think some might regionals might have been more focused on only giving credits out for exceptional behavior. This kept the worth high, but reduced the number in circulation.
These are different approaches and each has it’s merits. I’m not going to say one is better than the other. Which is prefered might depend on how well teams practice safety at a given event more than anything else. It has been interesting to hear about the different events.
ChrisH