NO to Blood and Gore - Yes to Education
I agree with most of those responding to this thread in that I see absolutely NO benefit to posting images of woodturning injuries in
American Woodturner. That said, I would LOVE to see occasional articles devoted to the
analysis of woodturning-related accidents and injuries and what the situation was that caused the accident.
Drawings of how the incident transpired, the set-up of the lathe, the position of the turner, how the turning tool was being used, quality and condition of the blank, etc. can all be included in an article meant to explain the conditions that were present to have resulted in the accident and/or injury, with additional explanation and recommendations on how to avoid similar situations. It would be GREAT to make people aware of what may have contributed to an accident, but we do not need to take the ineffective "scare tactics" approach to try to make people change their behavior. In some (most?) cases, turners may be just unaware that an unsafe condition exists, and these types of articles would go a long way in educating the growing number of turners, particularly beginning turners, on what might be considered safe or unsafe. There will always be those that will just stare at a train wreck for the destruction and chaos, and others who will learn from it - we need to promote thoughtful reflection about safety, not scaring people to do what should become second nature when learning woodturning in the first place.
As with any topic to be published, there has to be someone available, knowledgeable, and willing to write about the topic and be able to relate details of the situation and provide accurate commentary and advice. Further, with articles of this nature, you have to have a "victim" who is willing to disclose what might be considered a "bonehead" mistake willing to report it and have news of it released to the world. This should favor articles being written about the
incident only, without reference to who had the accident, etc. There would have to be people willing to document the situations and write such articles, or at least get in touch with someone who can follow up. This is where chapters can help by making sure these "learning opportunities" are not missed!
Under no circumstances should this effort be associated with a title such as "Stupid Turning Tricks" (or anything similar) if it is to be taken seriously, as it should be. The articles should be serious, informative, and suggest strategies to avoid similar accidents. They can be a great addition to the Journal, or to an AAW Safety Web Site resource that we hope to develop when we move forward with the planned IT improvements on the AAW's web site.
I am particularly interested in furthering the involvement of AAW members in promoting safe woodturning practices and the significant investment in education efforts that are required. As chair of the AAW's Safety committee, I welcome your input as the committee's activities will be expanding to include evaluation of AAW produced videos for safety content, revision of the AAW's safety guidelines and safety best practices for chapters and woodturning demonstrations, and developing a series of reference articles about specific safety issues. We have already published the first 'journals to books' publication on
"Safety for Woodturners", and we will continue to examine how the AAW can advance the opportunities for chapters to improve their educational mission to teach and enforce safe woodturning practices. We also try to include some aspect of safety or best practices in each of our bimonthly e-newsletters, "Woodturning FUNdamentals", which targets beginning woodturners and those members who teach them. Please communicate what safety efforts have worked for your chapter, programs on safe turning practices and teaching safety to beginners, etc. All of these kinds of reports can be helpful to the whole AAW organization by serving as examples of what can be done!
It has been suggested that the AAW serve as a record-keeping entity for woodturning accidents, but this would be a difficult, if not impossible task, with a potentially huge time and effort investment. There is also a potential legal liability issue present as well. We don't want to go there, but I think we DO have an OPPORTUNITY, if not a RESPONSIBILITY to teach safety from all perspectives, including that of accident analysis and review. We do not want to become "safety police" (although we do intend to review ALL turning activities for safe practices at the upcoming AAW symposium in Tampa in both the demonstration areas and in the trade show!!!), but we do hope to promote safety education in a number of different ways.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts or recommendations, or specific projects you feel the AAW should be pursuing in terms of safety education. Please send your e-mail messages to
rob@woodturner.org
Thanks for starting this thread Betty!
Rob Wallace, Chair
AAW Safety Committee
