Safety Orientation

New members need a Safety Orientation before they can use the fablab independently.

This page is under development by volunteers. Some information may actually be or may appear to be different from official North Forge documents. If you find something like this, please use the Discuss tag or mention it on Slack so that we can resolve the discrepancy.

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Should we develop room-level safety orientations? If so, who would perform them, how to track them, etc?

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It would be useful to have plans of individual rooms with safety features (eye wash stations, fire extinguishers, first aid kits) marked out.

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Member Rights, Responsibilities, and Legal Information

The right to know: Members have the right to know how to do their jobs safely, what hazards are in the workplace and how to prevent injuries from those hazards.

The right to participate: Members have the right to participate in safety and health activities in the workplace without fear of discipline.

The right to refuse unsafe work: Members are legally entitled to refuse work they believe to be dangerous to their safety and health or to that of another worker.

The right to protection from discrimination: Members cannot be disciplined or discriminated against for exercising their rights and acting in the best interest of safety.

Member responsibilities: Members are responsible for following safety and health procedures in the workplace (fabrication lab) and ensuring that their actions do not create unsafe situations for others.

All members must:

• Take reasonable care to protect themselves and others
• Follow the safety and health rules of the fabrication lab
• Use required personal protective equipment, clothing and devices
• Cooperate with the workplace safety and health committee or representative
• Cooperate with others on workplace safety and health matters.

Members, in most cases, are not workers as defined in the Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulations. The Act does still apply to many situations at North Forge (the Fabrication Lab is a workplace for the purposes of the Act, for example). Even where it does not legally apply. North Forge uses the Act as guidelines to direct its safety program. Members who employ others to work at the fabrication lab also have many responsibilities under the Act; we encourage such members to research those responsibilities thoroughly. If there is anything that North Forge can do to help employer members meet their responsibilities under the Act, please let the safety committee know.

Policies and General Information

North Forge has previously published a safety manual, however it is currently being updated to better suit the needs of members. You can find safety information here on the Wiki. To request more detailed safety information, please contact any member of the Safety Committee.

In case of incident or near miss, please fill out the Incident Reporting Form.

• North Forge policies will eventually be linked here. If you find a copy somewhere, help us out and put in a link!
  • Substance Abuse policy
  • Harassment Policy
  • PPE policy
  • Hazardous materials policy

Training

Most equipment requires North Forge approval to use. You can either take a course, or receive approval through a validation session if you've used the equipment before. We don't have a list of which equipment requires or does not require training before use, so please ask on Slack before using equipment. We hope to make these decisions soon. Generally speaking, all powered equipment will require training, as will any tool that is not handheld.

Please see the Training Sessions page for an introduction on various courses that may be available. Ask in the 125-training channel on Slack to receive training.

Housekeeping and Communal Storage

Poor housekeeping can lead to injuries. It can also lead to equipment damage or damage to member property. Use the following guidelines to keep the facility clean.

Garbage

The Garbage page is under development, please check back later. Generally:

• Empty garbage when 75% full
• Avoid sharp edges that can puncture bags
• Break down waste before putting it in a garbage bag (rule of thumb: anything larger than 6" x 6" should be broken down)
• Bags are stored in the tool room to the left of the door. Please replace bags when you empty the garbage.
• There are two large rolling carts for garbage near the back elevator. One is used for bagged garbage, and the other is used for large sheets that have not been broken down.
• Ghost Garbage picks up garbage regularly and needs access to the back lane for loading and unloading. Please do not park in the back lane during these times; Emelia will post an announcement on Slack to remind members when they are scheduled to come.

Worktables and Jail

The Clean Work Table Policy (tmp) has been subject to considerable discussion amongst members and has not yet been fully resolved. Generally:

• If you need to leave something out to dry, use the drying racks if at all possible. If you need to leave something on a workbench (large glue-ups) please leave a note with your name, the date that it will be removed, and a phone number so people can contact you in case of issues.

• If items are improperly left in communal spaces (for example, random tools left laying on a workbench for extended periods) they may be put in the Jail and may only be removed once a fine has been paid.

Paint booth and flammables

Members are responsible for disposing of their own flammables containers/waste. Dispose of oily rags in the Oily Rags Bins to avoid fire.

Hazardous materials storage

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Is there more than the Flammables Cabinets and the Hazardous materials fridge? Yes, member storage and private workspaces can have hazardous materials. do we cover that in the orientation, though? No, but we need guidelines for member storage, maybe encourage people to store chemicals in secondary containers in case of spill, ID things that we don't want stored at North Forge if any, that sort of thing We also need a system for collecting, storing, and auditing Safety Data Sheets...

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Hazardous materials policies are still under development. Generally:

• Always store flammable materials in the flammables cabinets
• All hazardous materials have WHMIS compliant labels by law. There are pre-made blank workplace labels in the tool room; by law, you must use a workplace label if the product does not have a WHMIS label or the existing one is unreadable.
• When bringing in a new chemical, please submit Safety Data Sheets to the safety committee for review and storage.
• If you are storing nonflammable hazardous materials, consider using a secondary container to limit or contain spills.

Random bits that will be filled in later

• Fridge and food storage
• Damage policies

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As in progressive discipline? or which? What happens if you break something owned by North Forge

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• Rentable spaces

Facility Safety Information

This is information that all members need to know, regardless of which equipment and rooms they may or may not use. This page doesn't have information about all hazards that you might face while actually using the tools, only the things you should know about as a bystander. Each room has room-level precautions and training that you should review before using any equipment.

Facility-wide Safety

• North Forge is a shared workshop with many unpredictable projects taking place. Be vigilant when entering any room; prepare to put on PPE at short notice.
• Ideally, plan your work so that it is not hazardous to bystanders. Cooperate and communicate with others on matters of safety; be considerate of other members' wellbeing while working.
• Safety boots (CSA green triangle) must be worn at all times. Safety glasses must be kept on your person at all times, though you do not need to wear them unless you are doing hazardous work or there is hazardous work happening nearby.
• Do not wear loose-fitting hair or items (clothing, wired earbuds, jewelry, hoodie strings) around tools that pose an entanglement hazard ( most pieces of powered equipment).
• No horseplay or vandalism
• Alcohol is not allowed on-site. Members must not operate equipment if they are intoxicated or otherwise impaired.
• Anyone under 18 must be supervised by an adult. Members under 18 are subject to special restrictions.
• Do not let anyone into the fab lab unless you are expecting them. Visitors must be accompanied by a member.
• No activities that are otherwise prohibited by law (manufacture and possession of firearms, wire fraud, etc)

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Do all visitors need to sign a waiver as well?

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• • Marney and Emelia can remotely unlock the doors if you forget your fob; ask on Slack.
• Lock-out/Tag-out procedures

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These are mentioned in the checklist but we haven't fully worked this out yet.)

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• • Generally, unplug the equipment and put a sign that physically covers the control panel/power switch/plug so that someone has to remove the sign before using the equipment.
  • If equipment is broken or not working as expected, always post about it on the broken channel on Slack.
• If you need to get someone's attention while they are using dangerous equipment, do not yell, wave, or touch the operator except in cases of extreme emergency. To get an operator's attention, stand to one side and wait for them to notice you.
• Air guns should only be used as a "last resort" cleaning option - clean most of the dust with vacuums, brooms, brushes first, then use the air gun while wearing respiratory and hearing protection.
• NEVER point air guns at yourself, and NEVER use air guns to clean clothing.

Assembly Space

• Others in this area might not be wearing full PPE, be mindful in what you do. Be particularly careful when cutting with materials or tools that can shatter easily (eg removing PLA supports, using Dremel with a cutoff disk). People nearby may not be wearing their safety glasses.
• Don't do serious sanding, grinding, air-powered cleaning in here (in general, limit the amount of stuff that's going into the air). We do not currently have any dust or fume extraction in the main assembly area, it's best to use spaces like the woodworking room, metalworking room, and paint booth.

Emergency Response

• Emergency Evacuation procedures including alerting others
• Muster Point
• Locations of fire exits, Fire Extinguishers, First Aid Kits, Eye Wash Stations, Spill Kits

This area is still under development. Generally:

• If it is safe to do so, shut down equipment before evacuating
• Alert members of the need to evacuate. Options include using a fire alarm pull station (beside every exit), air horn (on the community mailbox in the lobby), or verbally (shouting).
• In case of evacuation, all members should proceed to the muster station in the corner of the Canadian Footwear parking lot. Nobody may re-enter the building until cleared by emergency services or management.

North Forge is committed to making the fabrication lab as safe as possible for as many members as possible. If you require any accommodations to improve your safety, please identify yourself to anyone on the Safety Committee. Also refer to Vulnerable Workers Policy in our Safety Manual.

Paint Room

• Hazards: aerosols and fumes, flammable materials
• Shelves are for drying only - do not leave items on the shelves for more than 24 hours.
• We have legal limits on how much paint can be used per 8 hours (the limit is listed on the sign and will eventually be listed here too). Check the log before starting to make sure we haven't exceeded that limit, and record your use in the log once done. A standard 6" spray can contains around 4 oz of paint.
• There is an oily rags bin in the paint room for any rags used with polymerizing oils
• Do not use air-powered painting or coating tools (eg airbrush) in the paint room. Aerosol spray cans are acceptable.

CNC room

Bystanders may be affected by fire, dust (inhalation and eye irritation), noise, projectiles, and entanglement

• PPE required: hearing protection, eye protection, dust mask (minimum N95)
  • If the ShopBot is running you need to wear both in-ear AND over-ear protection, even if you're using the other equipment in the room
• Eye wash station and fire extinguisher available in the room
• CNC room has an air gun for cleaning CNC tool holders, and members must be trained to use them properly
• Dust collectors require training to use properly due to the electrical interlock system

Carpentry room

• Bystander hazards: noise, dust, projectiles
  • Operators: laceration, entanglement
• PPE: Hearing protection, eye protection, dust mask (minimum N95)
• No long sleeves/hoodie strings/wired earbuds/long hair, no work gloves

Ecopoxy Room

Epoxy produces fumes. The LifeBreath system extracts the fumes so it is safe to enter without respiratory protection.

There are several types of paid consumables in the EcoPoxy room including plastic cups; you must record what you use and you will be invoiced accordingly.

Laser room

Fire

IoT Room

• NO EATING OR DRINKING IN THE IoT INNOVATION LAB. Safety committee swabbed surfaces for lead and found that there was a lot of residual lead on the workbenches, and you don't want to risk ingesting it.
• Electronics processes can involve weird chemicals. Ensure you have WHMIS training and chemical-specific training before using said chemicals.

3D Printing Room

Chemicals

Tool Room

Sponsor Time?

Elevators

Oubliette

Design Space

Public

Metalworking Room

• Note the location of eye wash stations and fire extinguishers.

• Bystanders may be affected by noise, dust or fumes, bright light/UV light, projectiles, and fires. In particular, welding produces light that can blind you - do not stare at welders! Operators should see Metalworking Room/Precautions for more details.

• PPE: Bring Hearing protection and eye protection with you. Be prepared to put them on in case of noise or projectile hazards.

• Watch what other people are doing in case they produce an unexpected hazard.

• Items in the metalworking space may be hot, especially if left on the welding table or in the grinding area. Do not touch random bits of metal that you find lying around. You can use an IR thermometer to ensure things have cooled before touching them.

• There is a Metal recycling bin (metal room) available for scrap recycling.