Hazard control in the workshop

During class today we had a korero around identifying hazards in our work spaces.  I guess being an art teacher I've always placed an importance on identifying potential hazards and to always set up a safe working space.  I'm a bit of an organise freak at the best of times so one of the benefits is to always put things back where they live and continuously tidying up.

During my short time of carving at home, I noticed a couple of things and they particularly pertain to the type of wood I'm using.  Because of lack of confidence, my first tekoteko was made from treated pine and I could pretty much smell it while chipping away.  So when using bench saw etc, I made sure I had on the proper ventilator.

I also noticed that it pays to place a rubber mat down at the base of my superjaw because my chisel hit the base of it once, luckily it was an old chisel.  So the safety of the tools are important too.

Potential hazards in workplace:  Cords (lights, extension cords, power tools), my kuri, dust, fumes from confinement of garage, using goggles for equipment.  To eliminate these potential hazards (run cords under mat, cut up an old yoga mat to place under rakau - super jaw, wear protective gear ALWAYS,  Kuri has a bed that's placed away from workspace.  Some of my common practices are:  sweep up chips, place a table for chisels to sit on while using superjaw (but I do like the idea of having a tray on the table so chisels don't roll off)