Thoughts on: Risk management and shops

By Chuck Morris

Walking into the wood shop, the first thing I noticed was the heaviness of the air I was breathing. Then I saw a student in a cloud of sanding dust, no mask, and working a good six feet in front of two sanding tables that were not being used. Could have been because the tables were cluttered with bits of wood and had five handheld sanders dropped where they may have been used some days past. Dust collectors had not been turned on and there were a good 20 students in the room along with the teacher.

Whether or not this actually took place is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact we may not know what is taking place on a daily basis in the shops within our district. If that is the case in your district, changes are required. It is important to know what is going on and if safety is being followed as it needs to be. It behooves all of us to ensure a program is in place to inspect all shops. Look at all equipment and note anything out of order. With a tech education fund, are there new pieces of equipment that have been continually added since the original set up took place? Are they in a proper location with an adequately marked “safe work zone” painted around it? Each piece of equipment has its own safe work zone measurements and they should not overlap with an adjoining piece of equipment.

Look at the dust collection equipment. Is it (are they) in compliance? How do you know? Have other pieces of equipment been added to the work floor and piped into the collection system? How do you know if the extraction equipment is not over-loaded? They all have a maximum CFM requirement that shall not be exceeded. Is yours overloaded? How do you know? This is important because if overloaded or if not being used, dust will settle in the shop. It will settle on the overhead joists, extraction piping, and any other horizontal surface. These need to be cleaned regularly. The last thing any of us want is the possibility of a flash fire or dust explosion. Look up,

Proper maintenance in school shops areas is incredibly important for students’ health.

look around. Do not exclude this from your observations.

Do you have proper electrical connections to each piece of equipment? Are there power bars on the floor loaded with cords running to pieces of equipment? Are these connections laden with dust? Are there controls not fixed to the machine but just hanging or laying on a surface nearby?

How is the housekeeping throughout the shop? If your custodian is tasked with cleaning the shop areas it is difficult for them to do so when the area looks like a hoarder may live in it. What is excessive, throw it out. Why keep bags and bags of cut-offs? Make sure the students and teacher are picking up after themselves and putting tools away at the end of the class. Part of doing this provides a basis for responsibility. We should not be teaching students bad habits during class time, as that will be a sure-fire failure once out in the workforce if they decide to work as a carpenter or other.

Let’s help improve safety in our shops by being diligent and enforcing fire codes, electrical code issues, and good common risk management practices. Let’s help students learn properly and without creating future health problems by allowing them to learn in a space that no one should be in. n