FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Lead Safety Glass Attendant Regional and Championship

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Summary Responsibilities & Expectations Schedule At the Event Details Critical Review Conclusion

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Responsibilities & Expectations FIRST Safety Policy Mandate! Everyone in the Pit Must Wear Safety Glasses at All Times

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Lead Safety Glasses Attendant’s Responsibilities & Expectations Ensure that the Safety Glass Attendants (SGAs) understand and properly carry out their duties –Only allow people to enter the Pit wearing safety glasses or safety side shields on prescription glasses –Hand out “loaner” glasses or side shields to visitors –Retrieve the “loaned” glasses and shields as people leave –Clean all returned glasses and shields for reuse

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Responsibilities and Expectations cont. Monitor the distribution and retrieval of safety glasses in the Pit each day during open hours See to it that the Pit’s supply of safety glasses is secured and accessible by authorized personnel only Ensure that the SGAs record and maintain accurate counts of glasses handed out and retrieved each day

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Responsibilities & Expectations cont. Supervise the end-of-event process of cleaning, counting, and packing of all safety glasses and related materials for use at subsequent events Tally all remaining safety glass materials after the Pit closes on Saturday and deliver a tally report to the Pit Admin Supervisor Ensure that all packed safety glasses containers are gathered at one spot at the end of the event and ready to be loaded onto the FIRST truck

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Before Wednesday –Go to click on Safety Glass Supervisor, and download two documents: VOLUNTEER INSTRUCTIONS – PIT SAFETY GLASSES PROCEDURES, and PIT SAFETY GLASSES INVENTORY FORMhttp://first.wpi.edu/Volunteers/index.html –They are the key documents that provides the detailed instructions you and the Safety Glass Attendants (SGAs) are to implement

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Before Wednesday cont. –Contact your event’s Volunteer Coordinator and obtain the names and contact information of the SGA volunteers who will be working under your supervision –Contact your SGAs and instruct them to download and read the VOLUNTEER INSTRUCTIONS – PIT SAFETY GLASSES PROCEDURES, and PIT SAFETY GLASSES INVENTORY FORM documents prior to arriving at the event

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Wednesday –Meet with your Volunteer Coordinator and the Pit Admin Supervisor, and review the upcoming event –Check with the Admin Supervisor to verify that you are supposed to use the FIRST supplied safety glasses Some FRC events will use locally supplied glasses, not those FIRST has brought on its truck. If this is the case at your event, the Event Manager will give you special instructions If you are told to use locally supplied glasses, do not open the containers of safety glasses provided by FIRST. Leave them sealed. They will be put back on the FIRST truck on Saturday for transport to the next FIRST event

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Wednesday cont. –Ask if there is a dishwasher on-site that could be used by the SGAs for cleaning dirty safety glasses Although FIRST has supplied materials for the SGAs to use to manually clean all dirty safety glasses, some venues have dishwashers that can be employed as an alternative method If a DW is available, work out a plan for your SGAs to use it –Caution! Don’t use any High Heat DW settings!

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Wednesday cont. –Locate the Pit’s supply of safety glasses and related materials. Verify that they are adequately secured from unauthorized personnel access –Meet with your SGA volunteers and begin their training Open up one of he containers of safety glasses and explain their contents: Start with the contents of the large envelope on top –Emphasize the importance of the SGA’s responsibility for limiting access to these materials. It is easy for these items to “walk off” in the chaos of the Pit - don’t leave them in an unguarded location All safety glass materials will be needed at the other events –Tour the Pit area. Become familiar with the Pit’s layout, crowd access control plan, and designated SGA staff locations

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Thursday morning - before Pit opening time –Complete SGV training - stress the key procedures: Marking of all new glasses with a Sharpie pen before loaning them out Retrieving and cleaning borrowed glasses and side shields as people leave the Pit Keeping accurate counts of glasses and side shields loaned and returned each day –Ensure that staffing assignments have been made for all Pit SGA station locations Each station should be staffed by two SGAs

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Each day before the Pit opens. –Ensure that each SGA station has an adequate stock of safety glasses, safety glass side shields, glasses marking pens, spray bottles of cleaning solution, and paper wipes for cleaning the glasses –See to it that each SGA station’s volunteers are at their assigned station and ready to start working at Pit opening time

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Thursday –Saturday: During Pit open hours –Monitor the overall process: visit each SGA station several times every day and address any needs / problems your attendants have –Make certain that your SGAs take adequate break times and that each has a relief person fill their post when they are away from the station –If visitors are bypassing the SGA stations when entering and leaving the Pit, ask the Pit Admin Supervisor to help address the matter

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Thursday – Saturday cont. –End of Each Day See that all returned glasses get cleaned and secured by the SGA staff before they leave after the Pit closes Check the supplies of glasses cleaning materials. If running low on cleaning spray or paper wipes, contact the Pit Admin Supervisor and ask for help in obtaining additional supplies locally

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Schedule Saturday after the Pit closes –It is very important that you make sure accurate tallies of all the safety glasses and related materials are taken as they are being packed up –Complete a copy of the Pit Safety Glasses Inventory Form and give it to the Pit Admin Supervisor for forwarding to FIRST Your final tallies of glasses and materials are very important. They trigger timely replenishment activities by FIRST for the next event on the truck route

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers At the Event Your Main Responsibility is to see to it that the SGAs properly carry out their duties every day –They are to comply with the instructions documented in the VOLUNTEER INSTRUCTIONS-PIT SAFETY GLASSES PROCEDURES –Address their needs as quickly as you can –Keep in contact with the Pit Admin Supervisor. He or she is the person you can call on for help solving problems if you need assistance

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers At the Event cont. Your Secondary Responsibility is to gather accurate safety glasses materials count data at the end of the event, and complete a Pit Safety Glasses Inventory Form –Use the form provided with the SGA Instructions document –Complete the form after the Pit closes on Saturday and give it to the Pit Admin Supervisor to be faxed to FIRST

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers At the Event cont. Your two biggest challenges will probably be: –Keeping people from bypassing the designated Pit access points –Retrieving the loaned out glasses and side shields as people leave the Pit There will be some losses! Your SGAs should be able to retrieve at least 90% of all glasses and side shields given out over the three days period

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Details I am a Safety Glass Volunteer – What specifically am I supposed to do? –Answer: VOLUNTEER INSTRUCTIONS – PIT SAFETY GLASSES PROCEDURES Enforce the use of safety glasses in the Pit rule Distribute and retrieve the “loaned” safety glasses Keep the Pit’s glasses supply secure at all times Keep accurate counts of glasses given out and retrieved every day Clean, count, and pack up at end of the event. Don’t forget to put the envelope with its contents back in each safety glass container before closing it

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Gracious Professionalism is Key At FIRST, Gracious Professionalism has become an expectation. We expect it from our students, from the Mentors and Coaches, from all FIRST Volunteers and from FIRST Staff. It is part of the ethos of FIRST. “In the long run, gracious professionalism is part of pursuing a meaningful life. If one becomes a professional, and uses knowledge in a gracious manner, everyone wins. One can add to society and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you have acted with integrity and sensitivity. That’s good stuff!” – Dr.Woodie Flowers, FIRST National Advisor

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Gracious Professionalism is Key Encouraging high-quality work + Emphasizing the value of others + Respecting individuals and the community EVERYONE WINS!

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Lead Volunteer Communication With your team of volunteers: –As a Lead Volunteer you are a LEADER. –Lead Volunteers must communicate with the Volunteer Coordinator(s) to get names and begin communicating with their team as soon as possible via e mail etc. –As a team leader, you must communicate with your volunteers to create a sense of a team and teamwork. –By doing so, questions can be answered in advance, comfort levels increased, and miscellaneous information gotten out of the way. –There should be no surprises when you get together with your volunteer team at the event.

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Lead Volunteer Communication With the other lead volunteers at your event: –Take the opportunity to meet with other lead volunteers and discuss your expectations. –Discuss overlapping areas of responsibility and decide on how issues in these areas should be handled. –Clarify each others roles BEFORE a problem arises. –Make sure everyone understands the non-medical incident report (new in 2008).

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Critical Review The SGA program is the means by which FIRST implements its requirement that everyone in the Pit must wear safety glasses (or safety side shields when wearing approved prescription glasses) –It provides for the loaning out and retrieval of safety glasses regarding anyone visiting the Pit The end-of-event information you provide on the Pit Safety Glasses Inventory Form is critical to the success of all subsequent events –The end-of-event information you provide is extremely important –It triggers action at FIRST to rapidly replenish used up safety glasses and materials and have them delivered in time for use at the next event

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers Conclusion Safety is a high priority matter at all FIRST events Your Safety Glass Attendant staff is a major component of the FIRST program to ensure safety at these events Thank you for your help in our endeavor to provide a safe FIRST competition event for everyone to enjoy!

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers What’s Next? Now that you have reviewed the key materials to succeed in your position be sure to: –Test your knowledge with our online quiz. –Review any other materials provided. –Understand the post-event survey. –Plan to participate in your pre- and post-event training calls. These calls help volunteers at all regional events be successful!

FIRST Training Resource – Volunteers FIRST would like to thank the Association for Laboratory Automation for their gracious support.