Do we need a safety forum?

[430752]

quote: I am not an attorney but having a seperate category regarding saftey may have some risk of extending liability to BT3central. I would hate for Sam and BT3Central to have to stick their necks out on that one.

I am an attorney, but still don't know the answer to that[:I] Still, I would think it would be very tough to extend any liability to the forum for safety issues, especially where we are already telling one another to buy this tool or to cut something another way or especially where we tell people to remove their manufacturer recommended and installed safety blade guard in favor of a Sharkguard.

point is, if someone can come after the forum for having a safety forum (which I doubt, esp. based on the "ebay" theory), then they can do it for so much other stuff.

curt j.

[sweensdv]

quote:Originally posted by tfischer



Common sense is half of safety. The other half is knowledge.

For example, if I didn't know anything about kickback, all the common sense in the world isn't going to help me be safe.

Ensuring that one has, at the very least, basic knowledge of how to safely run any power tool is a part of common sense and not an extra step. Knowledge of the do's and don'ts of all power tools should be familiar to the operator before the tool is ever powered up. I hate the idea of anyone being hurt but with some people no amount of available knowledge will prevent them from doing just plain stupid things.

[JR]

I've thought very idea for a new forum was a bad one. They all turned out to be great. So what does this prove? That I wouldn't know a good idea if it bit me in the butt!

JR

[Ken Massingale]

I'd like to see a Safety Forum, along with a 'Hello' or 'Introductions' Forum. We are getting more and more new members, and I feel we need a place for them, along with some older members, to introduce themselves and be welcomed.
Ken

[Chuck C]

I would like to see a Safety Forum with Alerts and Recall information which would bring product knowledge to users.

[Bruce Cohen]

I think it's a great idea, especially since I'm sporting a titanium right thumb knuckle and major skin graft from a really stupid mistake I made 25 years ago with a belt sander. And now to even things out, I have a Titanium "T" shape plate permantly imbedded in my left wrist from a backwards fall from the top of one of those rolling ladders in Home Depot (where I work). Again, this was due to not being attentive at the time, Read that as being STUPID.

Woodworker's Central posts a searchable web site on woodworking accidents and Injuries.I would assume that not only is it a sobering experience but its one **** of a guide on "what not to do".

http://209.220.233.117/Accidents/search.htm

Sharing all of our less than stellar experiences is just as important and interesting as what we make and the toys we all buy.

Sam, "Let's Do It."

Bruce

[tfischer]

quote:Originally posted by sweensdv


Ensuring that one has, at the very least, basic knowledge of how to safely run any power tool is a part of common sense and not an extra step. Knowledge of the do's and don'ts of all power tools should be familiar to the operator before the tool is ever powered up. I hate the idea of anyone being hurt but with some people no amount of available knowledge will prevent them from doing just plain stupid things.

So are you agreeing with me or disagreeing? If we both agree knowledge is a good thing, I can't see how a forum on spreading safety knowledge could be considered bad.

To say that the forum is a bad idea because some will be stupid no matter how much knowledge is available seems to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

-Tim

[Stytooner]

quote:Originally posted by tfischer



To say that the forum is a bad idea because some will be stupid no matter how much knowledge is available seems to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

-Tim

Well......if you try that without proper lifting technique and a back support, you could really hurt yourself. On the bight side, I have heard that diluted baby shampoo does help keep bugs off of some flowers out in the garden. [)]

[sweensdv]

Tim,

I never said that the idea of a seperate Safety Forum was a bad idea. I just question whether it's necessary or not. Just what would qualify or not qualify for this forum? So far, there has been talk about those who just like to hear about gory incidents, factory recalls, relating stories about near misses, and more. I really don't care one way or the other if another forum is added or not. What I do care about though is that this site will become so overfiled with forums that I'll miss some good threads because they may get put into a forum where they don't belong and I don't read. Whats next, a seperate forum for working with oak and another for pine...etc? [)] OK, OK, I exaggerate but, as the old saying goes, "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing" or something resembling that.

[LarryG]

Dave raises a good point. I've read and/or participated in some Internet discussion boards that were so finely subdivided that some sections were not read by many because they assumed there was nothing there to interest them. I think erring on the side of having too few sections is better than too many.

That said, if there is to be a new forum, as many seem to favor, perhaps it could be titled something like "Techniques, Tool Use, And Safety" and could be the place where people talk about all aspects of how to use a tool properly, since there's a lot of overlap between proper usage and safe usage. That might help streamline Tool Talk, which seems to focus mainly on buying tools anyway.

[Sam Conder]

I've let this one cook. I'm going to go against what appears to be the majority on this one and say "no" to a safety only forum. This is a discussion that has happened once or twice on several other popular woodworking forums that I lurk on and it has always turned out that letting the safety posts inter-mingle with the other posts is best. As far as I know, the other forums that did try a "dedicated" safety forum pulled them after a while.

Also, I'm going to really start being careful about adding many more new forums. Like Larry and Dave point out, there is a "saturation point" that we must be careful not to go past.

[kenshep]

We do have quite a few forums here, so one more may be too many. What do you think about a sticky post in Tool Talk forum. It could be just one entry and have some tools listed with the things to watch out for with each particular tool, (i.e., table saw kickback, etc). It will help those of us who weren't born with the common sense to know how to use a tool, that we've never touched before or even seen operated, safely. This isn't a blood and gore site. If I want to see that stuff I watch CSI. This is a sharing/mentoring place where the curious and ignorant can leverage the knowledge of others and share the sense of accomplishment earned by creating something.

[Ken Weaver]

Sam - I'm good with it.