Secondary shop classrooms in Keewatin Patricia District School Board high schools recieve major upgrading of existing equipment.  

Dryden High School Student Wins Safety Contest

TW Machine Safety Services was commissioned for work in schools to bring secondary shop equipment up to safety regulations. (See Governing Regulations related to schools)

In the process all equipment has been anchored in place and non skids strips placed on the floor.

Some of the equipment that has been identified by department heads to be removed and it was time to do some re-organization of equipment layout in shops.

Lists of equipment were submitted by individual tech departments with items that could be removed from their inventory and did not need to go through the safety upgrading.

A list identifying equipment was also produced by TW Machine Safety Services from the audit for either removal and/or replacement.

Tech departments review the list of final equipment and identify what was required for their programs and what can be removed. Facilities than went to tender for the equipment that needs to be replaced for programs.

Any equipment that now goes into shops will need to go through the same process as the audit and will to be reviewed for guarding/pinch points (custom guarding), anchoring, non-skid stripping, electrical disconnects and emergency stop switch with magnetic starter. (See shop equipment procedures)

All equipment are up to safety requirements and standards and are on a web based software that houses all secondary shop equipment for the schools This database has the modules that can be used in safety training of students on equipment that can be part of your shop program.

All equipment are identified with an ID number and inventoried into the database.

All table saws used in shops throughout KPDSB secondary schools have been replaced over the summer of 2013 with the most advanced saws on the market Sawstop. (video) These saws that are equipped with a safety system that detects a person coming into contact with the blade and then stops the blade in milliseconds.

Links Below:

Health & Safety Ontario - Machine Safety

Ontario School Boards Insurance Exchange - General Liability & Risk Management

Video of improvements done to the Tech Shops in secondary schools

Link to database of shop equipment and their condition in secondary schools

Facilities Manager testimonial regarding process and services of TW Machine Safety

Below is a photo gallery of upgrades to equipment: