Engineering Safety
It’s important to be safe at work.Copyright 2013 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Electricians_at_Wolf_Creek_Power_Plant_complete_fix_on_a_differential_%2810019330364%29.jpg
Students are introduced to safety protocols by evaluating unsafe situations, sharing their ideas with their peers, developing a list of recommended safety protocols as a class, and finally, by comparing the class list to a standard list of safety rules. This activity seeks to demonstrate the importance of safety engineering and illustrate how it helps to prevent injuries and save lives. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quiz and student handout are provided.
Safety engineers develop procedures, systems, products and regulations to keep people safe at their workplaces. They influence lives on a daily basis by preventing construction workers from falling, keeping hospital workers from contracting infectious diseases, preventing office workers from developing compressed nerves while working on computers, and more. Engineers’ safety rules apply to school labs and workshops as well. For instance, technology and engineering (TE) students must learn procedures associated with lab safety before they may use the machinery and equipment in TE labs. This activity teaches students vital safety rules in order to be successful and safe in engineering labs. This activity also teaches students to analyze and evaluate existing systems and procedures—skills that are central to engineering.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Safely learn in a classroom that doubles as an engineering or “shop” workspace.
- Safely interact with classroom tools.
- Create a “safety culture” in which they work towards preserving their own safety and the safety of their classmates.