Volunteer Health & Safety Guidelines

We are thrilled to have you share your skills at our events.

We ask you to remember that Repair Cafés are learning events, so please work with the owners of broken devices helping them to understand what you are doing and to follow the repair process. Involve them in the repair!

Always consider safety. There is an experienced, designated safety volunteer at every event on hand to answer any questions about safety.
By volunteering with us, you agree to abide by the following:

Set-up:

• Extension leads must be taped to the floor where possible and kept out of the flow of foot traffic.
• Check with the leader(s) of a Repair Café before soldering. Ventilation is an issue in some locations.
• Leader(s) or the designated safety volunteer will locate and draw your attention to fire extinguishers and fire exits. If you miss this announcement, please inform yourself.

Basics:

• Children must be accompanied at all times by their guardians and kept an appropriate distance from chemicals, soldering and dangerous tools.
• When using blades or sharp instruments, always cut away from your body, and we recommend you use gloves.
• Be mindful when opening a device or using any force as bits may go flying (into someone’s eye). If this is a risk, ask for eye protection and/or move away from others.
• Careful with drinks! Do not consume spill-able drinks at repair tables. A mug of tea is nice for humans, but not for electrical and electronics devices. Spillages may create an electric shock hazard.

Electricity:

*if you have any doubt or question, find the host who will call a designated safety volunteer*

• All participants with mains-operated electrical devices must be encouraged to test them on arrival and before leaving. If you need to plug a device in the mains, test it first. After a repair, please direct people to the testing area.
• Only repair mains equipment if you are competent to do so. To plug in a mains appliance, you must be using an RCD or a dedicated mains isolating transformer.
• Beware of stored high voltage in switched mode power supplies, even a very long time after it has been disconnected from the mains.
• If you smell burning immediately unplug at the power plug and then assess the problem with our designated safety volunteer.
• For any old electrical device, always check that the wiring in the mains plug is to good standards.
• If a device has been shorting out electrical circuits, connect the device only after being certain you have
  found and corrected the problem.
• If you have repaired a mains operated item, ensure it is PAT tested before it leaves the premises.
  Using cans and chemicals:
• Keep them away from any flame or direct sunlight.
• Do not spray flammable or volatile liquid on a live circuit or close to a soldering iron.
• Keep chemicals such as solvents far away from other people, especially children.