Safety in the Workspace
A good Health and Safety policy helps guide people away from practices that are known to cause injury - and we like our users whole as much as is reasonably practicable. As such, users are strongly advised to follow the following rules. Hackspace users who are endangering themselves or others may face the consequences found at the end of this document.
Rules
Directive Alpha - If you're not sure, ask. Other members may have advice or guidance that would help you in your project and when working with tools and equipment, and we're more than happy to share that knowledge around.
Directive Omega - Do Not Be On Fire. This basic rule is the guiding light of safety rules, and as such, we have adopted it as our foundation of our health and safety rules.
You Must
- Wear PPE when necessary.
- Complete neccecary inductions for the tools you wish to use.
- Check out the equipment you plan on using before starting work.
- If there appears to be a maintenance issue with a piece of equipment, please 'tag' the equipment as such.
- Clean up after finishing work.
Consider
- Your working area.
- Other members.
- Whether you know how to use the equipment in a safe and sensible way.
Wisdom
Equipment and machines can be very individual - they can have quirks, and certain ways of working may be safer and better than others. Some of this wisdom will be on the hackspace wiki tool pages (which are under the equipment section in the side bar). If members are still unsure about best practice, please follow Directive Alpha - ask! On Telegram, our mailing list, in the space... there's usually a way to get an answer fairly quickly, and our membership can be quite chatty and free with advice.
Consequences
Warnings
While some behaviour is just worth a gentle mention to the member as it is a minor risk to their own safety (such as not wearing hearing protection whilst using the bandsaw), other behaviour is something that may necessitate a formal warning. It is better to let someone know that their behaviour is liable to break the safety rules prior to it actually doing so than issue them with a warning.
If someone is doing something that is highly likely to injure someone, or that has any likelihood of seriously injuring someone, anyone may ask them to stop using that tool. They may also be required to leave the space, subject to the same decision-making and reporting requirements as in the Code of Conduct.
Equipment re-training
Anyone found using equipment that requires an induction in a blatantly unsafe way can be stopped from using that equipment and required to go through the induction again before they can use the equipment. Anyone found to be attempting to circumvent this will be asked to leave the space by any member, and this should be reported as in the Code of Conduct. The board may decide to ban members who circumvent such restrictions, either temporarily or permanently.
Ban from using specific equipment
If someone has used equipment dangerously or recklessly multiple times with warnings and an induction (if available), there is the option for the board to permanently or temporally restrict someone from using that equipment in the form of a ban. Anyone found to be attempting to circumvent this will be asked to leave the space, and can be banned from the space. This request may be made by any member acting alone, and should be reported as in the Code of Conduct. The board may decide to ban members who circumvent such restrictions, either temporarily or permanently.
Asking people to leave
This is done by the same process as laid out in our Code of Conduct, but it's worth reiterating that any member can remove a non-member for unsafe working practices, and two or more members (or one board member) can do the same to another member. However, do not put yourself in danger: if the situation requires it call the police, or if safe to do so, remove power from the equipment that they are using.
Suspension and Termination of Membership
This is done by the same process as laid out in our Code of Conduct.