Whether you are in the competition, at school, or at home, safety should be considered anywhere you go. Although you don't always have to carry a fire extinguisher, or a battery spill kit with you everywhere, you should always be aware of your surroundings, and be able to communicate with others if you are in need of help. Safety captains have the responsibilities of carrying out safe practices and procedures, as well as spreading awareness. At each competition, safety captains have the chance to win the Safety Award Sponsored by UL, but having insight on safety shouldn't just be for the competition. Safety should be applied everywhere, and everyone should understand common safety practices. The main influence for safety comes from other teams. Seeing other safety captains input their own twists on safety programs inspires our team to do the same. 

 s a f e t y   m a n u a l S   a n d   i n f o g r a p h i c s

 Every year, FIRST puts out their own safety manual for any team to see. Their manual provides information on safety awareness for teams to understand and implement their own safety programs. You can see their manual​ here. 

For the 2018 season, our 2018 Safety Captain created a simple brochure about safety basics, so that it was easy to understand by people of all ages. During competitions, the brochure would be set out with the buttons so that anyone who is interested can take one. The safety captain also walked around the pit to hand out the brochures to fellow safety captains. You can see our 2018 brochure here.

For the 2019 season, our 2019 Safety Captain used the brochure from the previous year, and also made her own safety manual and infographics. The safety manual includes information from the manual given out by FIRST and involves safety tips from the members' experiences in and out of the competition. The 5S infographic incorporates details and ideas from the 5S Standards. You can see the 5S infographic here. The other infographic was mainly about safety information and statistics. You can see the safety infographic here.

i n j u r y   l o g

Safety captains have the responsibility of recording any work-related injuries and illnesses that occur in the work space. The safety captain should also require the use of certain safe practices and equipment, as well as monitor hazards/possible hazards.

M S D S  /  S D S

MSDS stands for material safety data sheet(s), and SDS stands for safety data sheet(s). Both are generic terms for data sheets, but SDS has been updated to MSDS; the main purpose of the switch was to create a simpler and more effective way to communicate information such as the properties of each chemical; the physical, health, and environmental health hazards; protective measures; and safety precautions of handling, storing, and transporting the chemical. 

O S H a   /   5 s   s t a n d a r d s

OSHA is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and is part of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress to assure safe and healthful working conditions for men and women by enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. 

The safety captain should follow through with the following rules (the rules are originally by OSHA but are modified for the students' robotic workplace):

• Inform students about hazards through training, labels, chemical information sheets, and other methods
• Keep accurate records of work-related injuries and illnesses
• Place citations, injury and illness data where workers can find them

The 5S Standards is a process that creates and maintains an organized, safe, clean and efficient workplace. The 5S list is as follows:

• Sort: separate essential from the nonessential items
• Set: organize the essentials; everything has its own place
• Shine: keep your work area clean
• Standardize: establish a system to maintain the 5S standards
• Sustain: foster a culture that enhances safety by identifying any workplace hazards and removing them

C P R  / f i r s t   a i d  /  a e d

Coming Soon!