The wood/metal design workshop at Shenkar serves students from the design department as well as teachers, additional departments at Shenkar and External Studies students. The workshop is a student workshop, and as such, students use it to build their models and studio projects. In order to enable them to work safely, they are required to undergo training and certification on the tools prior to being allowed operate them independently and safely.  Following the workshop safety rules is a necessary condition for working in the workshop and each and every student must sign a commitment form, undertaking to follow these rules prior to being allowed into the workshop.

The Objective

The objective of this practice is to safeguard the life and health of persons using the workshop as well as the equipment, its integrity and availability to the workshop staff and students, who use the workshop on a daily basis. To that end, it is mandatory to follow all safety instructions and workshop procedures, some of which will also be noted in this document.

Terms and definitions

Workshop employee is a person who has been hired to work at Shenkar in the wood/metal design workshop and is subordinate to the Workshop Director.

Workshop Trustees are students, who in addition to the workshop course, have undergone Workshop Trustee Training, and work at Shenkar on an hourly contract, and fill in for the permanent employees in their absence.

On Duty Storekeeper is a workshop employee who is on duty as storekeeper at the time in question.

The Method

1. Access to the workshop: Access to the workshop shall only be permitted to persons aged 18 and above, who have undertaken to follow workshop procedures and safety rules, since workshop machinery by unskilled persons poses a risk to their health and safety, and even to their lives.
2. Workshop staff roles and responsibilities: The workshop staff’s role is to instruct, supervise and advise any person working in the workshop on how to work safely, be alert to any faults that may occur, and to do everything in their power to prevent accidents in the workshop. In addition, when necessary, to repair any faults in the tools and inform the director of the workshop of any malfunctioning tools that need to be repaired by a technician.
3. Compliance with staff instructions: All workshop users must follow the directions given by the professional staff and comply with their instructions.
4. Physical contact during training: During training on the use of certain tools, the instructor may need to come into physical contact with the students to clarify to them where and in which direction pressure needs to be applied. This may take place in respect of tools, which if used incorrectly, could result in the user harming him/herself or those around him/her. The tools in question are tools such as metal cutting disks, table saws, band saws or any other tool where, in the instructor's opinion, due to the student's failure to properly comprehend the oral instructions, the student requires physical guidance.
5. Providing the student with advance notice prior to touching and instructing them: Prior to instructing the student in the manner stated in Section 4, the instructor will inform the trainee that he/she is about to touch him/her, stating the part of the body he/she is about to touch, so as not to startle or offend the student or infringe on their personal space.
6. In emergency situations: In certain situations, in which the instructor suspects that the health and/or life of persons using certain machines is in danger, the instructor must do everything in his/her power to prevent the dangerous situation. These emergency actions may include turning the machine off, cutting of the power supply to the specific area in the workshop and even physically pulling the person at risk away from the hazardous area.
7. Workshop discipline: When a student fails to follow the instructions of a member of the workshop staff, the staff member has the authority to immediately remove the offending student from the workshop. If the student refuses to leave the workshop, the staff member on duty may stop all the work in the workshop until removal of the insubordinate person.
8. Following the safety rules in the workshop: At all times, it is imperative that every person using the workshop: strictly adheres to the workshop safety rules including the use of Personal Protection Equipment while carrying out operations in which there is a risk of being injured by flying objects or shavings; wears the clothing required by the safety signs, and remains constantly aware of the dangers while working.
9. Maintaining cleanliness: All workshop users must maintain a clean working environment at all times. Prior to working on a machine and upon completion of work, every user is required to clean and vacuum the machine / work environment and leave them clean for other users.
10. Hazardous materials: Work with materials that are hazardous to the respiratory system may only be carried out in spaces with the appropriate fume hoods and extraction systems, while using the appropriate personal respiratory protection. In spaces without the appropriate fume hoods and extraction systems, it is strictly forbidden to open odorous materials that are potentially harmful to the respiratory system. In these spaces, it is also forbidden to carry out work processes that produce dust and shavings without effective local extraction.
11. Borrowing equipment: Equipment can be borrowed from the workshop's equipment lending storeroom according to the workshop's equipment lending procedure (displayed on the wall next to the equipment lending window). Tools borrowed for use in the workshop may not be removed from the workshop without the explicit permission of the workshop director, and said equipment must be returned, at the latest, by the following morning. Persons failing to return borrowed equipment will be charged with a fine as set forth in the procedure. Persons who are late in returning tools in accordance with the procedure, will have their right to borrow equipment from the lending storeroom permanently revoked.

This summary does not replace the Shenkar Work Procedures and is solely for the sake of user convenience. All workshop users are required to read Shenkar's official regulations and procedures and act accordingly.