Safety Survey 2

[thintz]

Safety should be on our minds all of the time when we are in the shop. Several years ago I did the first NewWodworker.com Safety Survey and it got lots of attention in the woodworking community.

Now with vastly improved technology I offer the NewWoodworker.com Safety Survey 2. You can see the results in real time so you can watch the numbers develop into a picture of the woodworking world.

I urge everyone to drop in to the link below and take the survey. This survey does not collect any personal information so you can be totally honest so this survey can be of help to other woodworkers. This will be an on-going survey effort so you can drop in again weeks or months down the road to watch the trends develop.

Click Here to take the Safety Survey!

[thintz]

Some have asked about the intent of the Safety Survey 2. Really this is a simple look at what is going on in the common woodworking shop. The categories near the beginning of the survey are simple data points that we use to filter the results in several ways that when combined produce a clearer picture.

What is most surprising was the number of people who are downright paranoid about “someone knowing" what their income is from a totally blind survey. I guess I am more clairvoyant than I thought! Two of the income levels are throwaways because they draw a high number of the big thinker types that are going to fake out the survey. It’s not perfect but it works pretty well. Others think this is simply a ploy to grab your email address. Did you have to enter an email address anywhere? Maybe that was that psychic thing again….

We needed at least 300 participants for the samples to be useable and we have gone well beyond that already. If you look at the results so far, it is clear that there are way too many injuries, small or large in woodworking. At this writing nearly 80% of the respondents report an injury or some kind. I really don’t care about the individual severity, that’s way too many no matter how you look at it.

This is all very preliminary right now but it looks like I have lots of story ideas for the future. I have already heard from a few manufacturers who are interested in talking about possible joint efforts on safety issues. Hopefully that will turn into something that helps a little bit anyway.

Stay tuned! (Or if you are one of the "believers", don't worry, I apparently am in control of your mind already anyway....)

[thintz]

I posted the report on the Safety Survey 2 this morning on NewWoodworker.com at the link below. It would be mandatory reading if I had the power to make it that. The numbers tell us we all need to pay more attention to how we do things in the shop.

Read the Safety Survey 2 Report

[Kentuk55]

Here is my "2-cents". + a few more
Never go into the shop when you are tired. Always be alert and awake
Common sense
Safety glasses
Ear protection
Dust mask and vacs
Don't take chances