[Swansea Hackspace] Minutes of Introductory Meeting 2013-04-02

[Steven Whitehouse]

Hi,

On Thu, 2013-04-04 at 18:09 +0100, Tom Lloyd wrote:
> Doing risk assessments is a pain, but when you consider that the
> alternative is sometime being seriously injured or poisoned, or us
> being sued or shut down, it's kind of worth it.
> 
Very much agreed...

> Normally what you do is have a rule where before you can use a
> machine, you have to be trained by a "competent person". This person
> doesn't have to have a recognised qualification, although that
> obviously wouldn't hurt. Then if something bad happens, the fault lies
> either with the operator for not following training, or with the
> trainer for not training effectively. Thus competency is
> self-policing: if you suck at training, YOU could potentially be in
> hot water.
> If the organisation has carried out a full risk assessment then the
> injured party wouldn't have much of a case against them.
> We would need to risk assess the area where work is carried out, and
> any tasks done within that area, then review these assessments on e.g.
> an annual basis. People would be signed off as trained for certain
> kit, and these records would be kept safe in case they were needed as
> proof after an accident.
> 
> All of this applies to us, but I imagine the HSE would cut us a bit
> more slack than a commercial organisation, given our size and lack of
> resources. I will ask about ways to protect against civil claims -
> waivers, etc.
> 
> Does anyone know what kind of H&S management structure established
> hackspaces employ?
> 
> -- Tom
> 
Well when we asked the Cardiff people, their answer appeared to be that
they hadn't really thought about it... not a confidence inspiring answer
really,

Steve.