Shop and Maker Space Safety
Updated May 15, 2024
University personnel, students and visitors in shops and maker spaces may be exposed to hazardous machinery, physical hazards, hazardous materials or procedures that could result in injury.
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) provides resources for shops and maker spaces to help address the health and safety issues they may encounter.
Develop a Shop Safety Plan
Units and departments are responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining a Shop Safety Plan for each shop and maker space within their organization that includes all the plan elements described on this page.
Follow these steps to develop a shop-specific plan:
- Identify a shop safety coordinator or responsible person who is qualified to provide supervision, advice, and training, and will enforce shop safety rules.
- Conduct a hazard assessment to identify hazards and required personal protective equipment (PPE). Provide PPE to anyone who may be exposed to identified hazards (according to the assessment).
- Develop a job hazard analysis for each hazardous equipment, activity, and material.
- Use the Shop Safety Plan Template to create the plan.
- Supplement the plan with standard operating procedures (listed below); or
Use a blank SOP template.
Share the Shop Safety Plan with personnel and users of the space, along with equipment-specific safety information.
Note: The Shop Safety Plan is one component of the unit’s Supplemental Accident Prevention Plan.
Implement safety procedures
After completing a Shop Safety Plan, do the following:
- Control access to the shop; only trained, authorized persons can use the space.
- Inform personnel and users of safety procedures for working alone.
- Identify and mark hazard zones and walkways.
- Provide signage and labels for physical and chemical hazards.
- Require general shop safety training and shop-specific safety training for every user before allowing access to the shop, equipment, and tools.
- Maintain an accurate inventory of hazardous chemicals in MyChem; provide easy access to safety data sheets (SDS) in MyChem or in paper form in the shop.
- Maintain good housekeeping (according to your Shop Safety Plan).
- Shops with hot work operations, such as welding and cutting with a torch, must obtain permits and implement programs to prevent fire and injury.
Equipment safety
Use the safeguarding methods listed in the Machine Safeguarding Guide to ensure machines and equipment are used in a safe manner.
The Shop Safety Plan Template provides examples of how to use the Hierarchy of Controls for machine safeguarding.
The Machine Guarding and Safety Assessment Self-Inspection Checklist is completed by the shop safety coordinator (or designee) for each machine/equipment initially, after modification, and prior to a shop safety inspection. This form can be completed for typical shop equipment such as band saws, table saws, drill presses, laser cutters, lathes, milling machines, and CNCs.
Note: Visit the Cranes, Hoists and Rigging page for safety inspection, testing, and maintenance information for this specialized equipment.
Equipment-specific SOPs and guides
Requirements
Shops and maker spaces also ensure equipment safety by doing the following:
- Maintain tools and equipment in good working order.
- Create and update standard operating procedures for each type of machine or equipment (refer to the templates listed above).
- Ensure there is adequate PPE available.
- Maintain first aid kits, emergency washing devices, and fire extinguishers so they are ready to use.
- Use engineering controls, such as air filters or exhaust ventilation, when using machines and equipment that emit air pollutants or dust.
- Use lockout/tagout procedures when servicing or maintaining machines and equipment with a hazardous energy source.
- Properly secure non-portable equipment/machinery.
- Perform regular maintenance and inspection of specialized machinery and equipment, including cranes, hoists and rigging.
- Use proper grounding and bonding when dispensing flammable liquids greater than 1.3 gallon (5 liters).
Additional machine guarding resources:
Responsibilities
Shop and maker space safety is a critical part of the University’s Accident Prevention Program. It is the responsibility of the unit/department to ensure these areas and any equipment within are used and maintained in a safe manner.
University units and departments are required to develop a Shop Safety Plan to prevent injury and exposure to hazardous materials in their shops and maker spaces.
All personnel, students and other users of shops and maker spaces are responsible for knowing and observing the requirements of the shop safety plan that applies to their specific shop. UW personnel, students and other shop users are required to:
- Know and comply with safety guidelines and policies required for all assigned tasks.
- Complete designated shop training courses (and refresher courses as applicable) according to the Training Course Guide for Shop Personnel.
- Observe all safety precautions and remind others as needed.
- Read, understand, sign, and follow your site-specific Shop PPE Hazard Assessment.
- Follow job hazard analyses and/or SOPs for equipment, activities and chemical or hazardous material use.
- Report potential new hazards to the shop safety coordinator.
Report all accidents, injuries, fires, exposures to hazardous materials and near-miss events to a supervisor or shop safety coordinator.
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) is responsible for the following:
- Perform periodic shop safety inspections and provide inspection reports identifying safety findings.
- Inform shop safety coordinators, PIs and Managers, and unit/department leadership of program requirements and updates.
- Advise and assist shops with shop safety issues and procedures, as requested.
- Maintain an inventory of shops on UW sites.
- Provide caution sign holders for shop entries.
- Perform design review of new shop facilities.
- EH&S developed an Accident Prevention Plan and Supplemental Accident Prevention Plan.
Emergency response and reporting
Call 9-1-1 in an emergency.
Follow the EH&S exposure response procedures if potentially exposed to hazardous materials.
Report all accidents, injuries, fires, exposures to hazardous materials and near-miss events to a supervisor (or shop safety coordinator) and to EH&S using the Online Accident Reporting System (OARS).
Services
EH&S will help units identify potential health and safety risks and provide consultation and support to improve safety procedures in their shops and maker spaces.
Frequently asked questions
The majority of injuries reported in Maker Spaces are from accidents related to hand tools and burns from hot 3D printer resin. Users have the responsibility to familiarize themselves with the safety features of the tools and equipment they use so they do no harm to themselves, other people or the equipment. Supervisors must train and oversee users of their spaces.
The use of risk reduction measures (including safeguards) must be based on a risk assessment that is ideally performed by a team of people who operate and maintain the equipment/machines.
- A job hazard analysis can be used to document the risk assessment for all tasks identified for the equipment/machine (e.g., setup, start-up, shutdown, inspection, servicing, maintenance, and repair).
- Based on the risk assessment, the type and number of controls may be selected based on the severity of the consequences identified.
- Typically, the higher the severity, the more effective controls will be required, and the number of controls will likely increase. Use the Hierarchy of Controls to establish the acceptable level of risk for each accident scenario considered.
The Machine Guarding and Safety Assessment Checklist can be used in conjunction with the risk assessment to evaluate if the machine and machine operations are adequately safeguarded from the potential identified hazards and risks. Deficiencies identified by the risk assessment must be corrected prior to further use of the machine or equipment.
The information presented in the Machine Safeguarding Guide provides guidance on machine safeguarding and safe work practices when operating common shop equipment.
Emergency stops (E-stops) are required for specific types of machines per the Washington state machine guarding regulations (e.g., compactors, conveyors, roll forming or bending machines, etc.).
E-stops are recommended (when not specifically required) when a risk assessment (such as a job hazard analysis) identifies an accident scenario that could result in a severe injury e.g., amputation or fatality (e.g., lathes, powered shears, table and vertical saws, etc.).
E-stops cannot prevent or detect a failure mode; however, an E-stop may reduce the severity of the consequence
Contact EH&S for support in designing a safe space to learn and be inventive.
Other UW resources on designing a maker space are available at the DO-IT website.
More information
Shop-specific orientation and training must be provided by the shop safety coordinator or designee before employees and students may be granted access to machinery, tools and hazardous materials.
Definitions
A barrier that does at least one of the following:
(a) Prevents the hands or other body parts from reaching through, over, under, or around the guard into the hazard area; or
(b) Prevents objects or debris from falling onto or being ejected towards an employee.
Types of guards include: fixed, interlocked, adjustable and self-adjusting.
Machine guarding protects the machine operator, and other employees in the work area from hazards created by ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips, and sparks.
A combination of guards (rigid barriers) and devices (interlocks, stop buttons) must be used to protect against the hazards of:
- Power transmission devices – belts, gears, chains
- Points of operation – cutting edges
- Moving parts – rotary movement, nip points
- Flying chips/materials
Refer to the machine guarding resources listed above to determine how to properly guard your machines.
Maker spaces, also known as fab labs and hacker spaces, are places to gather, exchange ideas, invent, and create. These spaces are found in libraries, residence halls, academic and other spaces, both on and off campus. The tools and equipment often include hand tools, computers and software, and may include three dimensional (3D) printers, laser cutters, and milling machines. It is the responsibility of the sponsoring organization and the users to ensure that the spaces and equipment are used and maintained in a safe manner.
An umbrella term for the application of protective measures to reduce the risk of injury from contact with hazardous energy or other unsafe conditions; safeguards can include guards, safety devices (e.g., interlocks, alarms), shields, awareness barriers, warning signs, safe work procedures, personal protective equipment (PPE) and a combination of all the above.
Shops are defined as a designated room or area where fabrication and repair activities occur, using tools and machinery that present physical hazards to occupants. Shops at the University include a broad range of uses that support teaching, research and facility maintenance and repair where physical hazards from tools and machinery are more prominent and would be considered hazardous to an untrained person.
