Health and Safety are vital aspects of running a successful Shed, and we also recognise our Environmental responsibilities too. To that end we have created a number of documents which will be displayed in the Shed and are also available on the website within the Shed Documents section.

The Health Safety and Environment Policy sets out our overall position on HSE, clarifying that HSE is everyone’s responsibility, and setting out some basic principles to help us to operate in as safe and environmentally-friendly way as we can. Every member is expected to read the document and adhere to the principles that it contains.

As part of the overall approach to HSE, members should go through an induction process that explains how we operate, where the various facilities are, and what we expect in terms of HSE. Any existing member should be able to take a new member through the induction process, although in practice it will generally be done by a trustee or an experienced member of the Shed. There is a New Shed Members Induction Checklist to help with the process.

Given that we use a wide variety of tools and equipment, we expect members to sign a Member’s Declaration which confirms that they understand their responsibilities to themselves and to other members, and gives a snapshot of their competence on many of the various types of equipment that are available for use in the Shed, at the point when they join the Shed (changes to the competence levels will be recorded elsewhere).

We are also developing documentation on the safe use of individual power tools or groups of power tools, which will be displayed prominently on or near the tools. Members should use these guides to protect themselves and other members from incorrectly operated or set-up tools. This will also help to protect the tools and extend their operational lives.