Horror stories!

I thought it might be useful to share stories of where something has gone wrong in H&S at RC events, and what we can learn from the disasters. I'm nominally the H&S monitor at our events, although there's normally not much that needs to be done; it's more a question of common sense.

Please be careful not to post incriminating information about your volunteers or visitors! ;o)



We've been either lucky or careful, and not had any catastrophes, but there have been some slightly dodgy moments. We occasionally get visitors who have dogs with them, and are extremely reluctant to part with them, even objecting to tying them up in the adjoining garden. Occasionally one has to go so far as to politely offend them by insisting, and point out that there are people carrying power tools or heavy items, and it's as much for the dog's safety as for others'. We used to hold the events outdoors, under a canopy, where dog walkers were forever going past - including big, bouncy, boisterous things. I don't suppose they mix well with soldering irons or sewing machines, but we always had enough sharp eyes available to solve that problem before it arose.

In general, we find that just having more volunteers to take some of the pressure off the receptionists can make a huge difference. So, what stories are there..?

We haven't had any issues yet, we've had 3 cafe sessions, I'm interested to hear about other cafes experiences. The presence of small children is a worry of mine.

Hi Amanda,
Yes, they make me nervous as well! The best way of keeping boisterous children safe (and not causing annoyance!) is probably managing the space optimally. We have an arrangement of tables with the fixperts all working with their backs to the walls, behind tables, and fill most of the main part of the space with reading tables, and smaller tables to sit at with a cuppa. That way the tools are behind barriers, and they haven't got room for much of a run-up!

Of course, if children really are becoming too much of a handful, a quiet word with the parents normally does the trick... but this is one of those cases where having an extra volunteer to just be on hand and able to engage with visitors is very useful.

Sounds like a good arrangement.