Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Policies and procedures for community workshop,

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Aug 4, 2019, at 1:14 PM, Robert Oyafuso <boyafuso [at] sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Do you have written policies, procedures, safety guidelinesfor your workshop? 
> Fair Oaks EcoHousing will soon have a well-equipped workshopfor wood working, 
> metal working, repair and maintenance of community facilities, bikes and 
> small tools. Ifyou have written policies to share, I would like to hear from 
> you. 

I would like to see any such guidelines also. We have a new resident who has 
completely transformed our large workshop that looked more like a storage room 
— a neglected storage room — into a clean workshop with logically arranged 
tools and work areas. I’m afraid he will get discouraged if it becomes to 
difficult to maintain order.

The only guide we had when we moved in was that our lawyer almost fainted when 
someone said they wanted a table saw. Insurance, insurance, insurance she said 
when she recovered.

There was another post along the way on Cohousing-L from one community that had 
a workshop coordinator who had the key to the locked room. Anyone could use the 
room but they had to arrange to get the key from them and to demonstrate that 
they knew how to use the equipment. I think this is putting a lot of 
responsibility on the person who has to make the decision but perhaps there is 
a course someone would take to be certified.

Our workshop is locked to protect children, R rated videos, and alcohol, but 
all the adults have keys. Many just use it to borrow tools. And sometimes sign 
them out. We’ve never had any accidents but we don’t have a table saw either.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org