September 11 2016 Area Authorizations discussion

Members in attendance

• Board Members
  • Logan Pajunen
  • Tracy Hoover
  • James Lancaster
  • Curt Gridley
  • Christian Kindle
  • Dominic Canare (arrived after start)

• Members
  • Tom McGuire
  • Jeff Eck
  • Jeremiah Burian
  • Mike Barushok
  • Mike Hutton
  • Brad Ruder
  • Matthew Lewis Warren (left early)
  • Rustin Atkeisson

Christian K.'s Notes

• Frequency/scope of safety classes
  • Minimize the time/detail of safety classes
    • Cover basic safety for that area
    • Time limited target (2 hours?)
  • Open up to more instructors
  • Teach skills in separate classes
  • Some feel that the safety class does not give people ability to use equipment
    • Maybe this is fine if we have more skills classes?
  • If only one person is teaching classes it is too easy for them to fall off
  • Safety classes that cover multiple pieces of equipment (wood/metalshop) do not have the scope to cover how to use each piece of equipment.
  • Safety vs. authorization vs. skills (hands-on)
    • Skills classes can be paid classes
  • Classes tend to shut down the use of the machine for other members
  • Break down shop classes into basic and advanced to reduce scope of classes
    • Distribute workload between specialists
  • Safety classes should be frequent and restricted in scope
    • Keep classes on calendar for new members
    • Need to set guidelines, current system isn’t working well
  • Trying to teach too much at one time
  • Authorization/Instruction have been seemingly coupled, but shouldn’t be
    • Authorization is free given necessary skills
    • Instruction can be charged for
    • Need some well defined standard that needs to be met to be authorized
    • Is an authorized member able to directly instruct an unauthorized member to help them pass the authorization without class?
      • Must be member with signed waiver on file, done with orientation, etc.

• Documentation/Advertising
  • Access policies need to be kept up to date
  • Machines requiring authorization should be labeled clearly
  • Some areas have no policies defined
  • Machines that require additional skill to operate need to be documented
    • Metalshop: mill, lathe, tormach, etc.
    • Woodshop: lathe, ShopBot
  • Emphasize that membership gives access to equipment that members are ABLE/AUTHORIZED to use
    • Having a key doesn’t mean you can use anything you want

• Protection of operators and equipment
  • Policies should address personal safety and equipment damage risks
  • Personal safety should be prioritized
  • Can we really ensure that everyone uses the shop safely?
    • Don’t have the ability to enforce
    • To an extent have to trust people to follow the rules

• Issues
  • Communicate expectations to area leadership
  • Growth of space and equipment has caused our authorizations to lag behind
  • Differing attitudes towards safety
    • Some may be less willing to conform
    • People with experience in the area may be disgruntled at having to take basic classes
      • This shared shop is a different situation than a private shop, everyone needs to conform and learn to use safely in a collaborative environment

• Authorization/Safety enforcement
  • Lock down access to certain machines with key?
  • Some people may not be aware or care about the authorization
    • What is a Wiki?
  • No good way for members to keep each other accountable.
    • Directory?
  • We can never have enough rules to make everyone use equipment safely
  • Repercussions for being unsafe/abusing equipment
    • Area leadership has the right to revoke access

• Sharing responsibility
  • Have thorough documentation for instructors to use
  • Have well-defined requirements for classes/instructors
    • Require area leadership to have published steps to becoming an approved authorizer
  • Videos of instruction?
  • Increase area leadership
    • Too many cooks spoil the broth?
    • Dictator title seems problematic
  • We are being harmed more by not having classes than by charging for authorization classes

• New equipment
  • How do people get authorized?
  • If a safety class covers all equipment in shop, are you authorized for any new equipment in an area?
    • This shouldn’t be the case

• Summary
  • De-couple authorizations from classes
    • Communicate this clearly
    • Have a path to become authorized without the class
    • Completion of class doesn’t necessarily authorize you
  • Break up big shop areas to make classes more manageable
  • Distribute workload by defining path to become an approved authorizer
    • Set by area leadership
  • Set classes and get them on the calendar to set member expectations
  • Clearly define terms used
    • Authorization
    • Instruction
  • We don’t have the resources to police everything; need to communicate expectations to members

Mike B.’s notes

• Are we upfront with new prospects about access policies
• Content not comprehensive
• Classes not offered often enough and/or last too long
  • 2 hours or less
  • always one on calendar

• Access policies not aligned with authorization training / or not all approved
• Training material / subject matter not available in writing
• Safety of equipment vs personal safety
• NFC key restriction not ready to implement
• List of authorized persons not reliably public (on wiki)

• Need more people doing authorizations
• Wiki have list of people that can authorize
• Each machine have key safety points on signage
• Recording or transcript of safety classes
• More hands on training after safety classes
• Divide by equipment type instead of by area, or by individual machine

• Video training followed by skill demonstration for authorizing trainers

• Budget revision methodology/schedule
• Pay instructors,
• Excess discretion given to BD's,

• No mechanism for retraining on newly acquired equipment

• http://makeict.org/wiki/Standing_rules#Guests still calls for "certification"

• http://fusemakerspace.org/about-us/policies/