If you have not seen it all ready, in Section 10- At The Events of the 2004 Competition Manual on page 5, FIRST will be having each team appoint a Team Safety Captain at all events. What do you think of this happening and do you think it is goign to be a good thing, or will it be people just being “tattel tales” now?
When it comes to safety, there is no such thing as a Tattle Tale. One silly accident in the pits at a competition is all it will take to change the FIRST competition for ever.
I think its a great idea. Instead of FIRST trying to monitor safety throughout the pits, put 30 or 40 people in the pits to do the job for them.
As long as the Safety Captains practice Gracious Professionalism (and I have every reason to believe that they will), I think their presence will give us a safer FIRST.
Aidan
Definately a good idea. No questions asked. Hopefully these people are a bit more responsible then some of the “Safety People” I’ve seen in the past. I remember one event I was at one year where this guy walked the pits w/o eye protection yelling at people who weren’t wearing safety glasses…hopefully with your peers doing that job this year, everyone will take it a little more seriously…
Definitely a good idea as long as they do a good job.
Yeah besides it give those alumni who are still with the team something to do. I’m glad they have chosen the Team Safety Captain option. Alot of teams i have seen do work in the pits without proper safety precautions. WE forget these procautions b/c we are in a hurry to fix the problem that making sure we do it safely just goes right over head. Hopefully with an extra person in the pits to let us know of unsafe things will be a big help rather then a person just getting in the way and not doing his or her job correctly!
having a safety captain at all time is a very good idea. i know that in my team we have one of the mentorsm, just watching out for safety at all time and making sure that every single member who is in the field and in the pit has safety glass on…
I think safety is a job all FIRST students should be aware of, but sometimes we all forget in the rush of it all. These safety captains should be taken seriously because they *are * our peers and FIRST *is * about working togather.
There is never such a thing as a weasel at a competition especially if it is relating to safety, when you walk into your pit you should have safety goggles on and I can’t tell you the number of times that there have been members of my team and others that will walk in and forget to pick up a pair and wear them. I think it is common sense that FIRST appoint someone to be in charge of reminding people. And thats just one of the rules there are countless others that make “common sense” like no running in the pits even I’m in need of a friendly reminder when my match is called and the robot’s in line and broken… I think it makes all the sense in the world after all they have limited volunteer and hired staff and they can’t all be at one place at every specific time.
I think having 40-70 people checking for safety is important. This year, goggles on-field will be more important than ever, with robots potentially shooting out extremities for the Tees, and an overhead Ball Handler, with who knows what could fall out of that and into eyes. To me, this is the most important year yet for needing safety.
I think if this happens, i might have to go around paying people off so they don’t rat us out 
I thought we were trying to cut down on the unnecessary replies saying “Yeah, I agree, youre right, thats a good idea.” So far thats what pretty much all of them have been…
Everyone’s decided that it’s a good idea. No need to chime in and say you agree. :rolleyes:
Cory
I’m just trying to throw in a little humor on this post, maybe FIRST will require all these safety captains to walk around in bio-hazard suits! The New Trend!
safety officers are a good idea and are widely used in industry
but even more valuable would be officers who regulate the numbers of teammates in the pit area. How often is there a huge crowd of people milling around and potentially getting into trouble. Why not set up the cheering section in a part of the field seating and use it as a base of operations?
It is a miracle that with all the machinery in the pits that someone hasn’t been injured in all these years. I think that is a testament to the quality of FIRST teams.
WC 
The best safety officer for any of us is someone on our own team. He (or she) knows names, who gets ditzy when they get tired or hurried, who constantly wears their safety glasses on top of their head instead of on their face, who is supposed to be in the pit, where not to stand in case the robot unexpectedly turns on, etc. This is a good move on FIRST’s part.
Well at the regionals i attend i see about 12 people sitting in the pits and about 5 - 7 of them actually doing work. i find this as a saftey hazard b/c some regionals have small pits and walkways. many times when i was on 522 we always limited the number of people in the pit arear so that work can be done hassle free and safely. We kept the Mechanics / Drivers and Coaches in the pits all together thats about 6 right there, occasionally we kept the battery man on standby there or the strategist to let the coaches know about upcoming matches etc… AS far as team members are concerned the cheer squad should really stay out on the field as the team enters with the robot then cheer the team back to the pits and then return to the field to watch some more fun matches.
Having a safety captain in the pits for each team will hopefully ease pit traffic and easy congestion in that teams pit area. That is probably why FIRST has made this new rule b/c they see how crowded pits get and they just want to keep the game challenging / fun and most of all SAFE