Innovation stands for novel implementation of creative ideas. As such, required skill is essential, otherwise promotion will fall short of one’s wishes. Establishing one’s manual skills to meet requirements of various implementation demands is the only solution. Facing jobs to be done, the first thing to consider is safety. Personal and other’s safety is equally important. Every case of accident (1) ,accident (2) not only affects yourself, it also affects others as well as their possessions. Stay alert and be careful is not the whole story, we need also pay attention to the following points:
Accident 1. Funny Dewalt Drill Commercial
Accident 2. Funny Cordless Drill Commercial
(A) Personal safety
1. If possible, find a partner for each job schedule. He/she serves as a helper.
2. Three main causes of accidents: Injuries by sharp objects, 2. Electrical shocks and 3. Scalds and burns. Point 1 will be discussed in Topic 3 Tools and manipulative skills. Preventive measure for Point 2 is simply use dry cells and low voltages for all designs. Point 3 is commonly caused by hot soldering iron. Caution and awareness are essential.
3. Wear protective goggles or gloves. Gloves are not suitable for fast rotating tools like drills or grinders.
4. Upgrade one’s tool management ability. Keep the environment clean and tidy.
5. Use the minimum amount of reactants for chemical reactions. (Even explosions can be safely controlled)
6. Use micro-scale instrumental designs as often as possible.
7. Wait 2 seconds before operation as a time buffer. The advertising slogan “ Stop and think for awhile” is very helpful
(Fig. 1) Available safety goggles
(Fig. 2) Professional safety goggles
(Fig. 3) Complete facial protection
(Fig. 4) Working gloves
(B) Others’ safety
1. Working environment: Keep a decent distance between yourself and others, especially knowing the location where accidents could occur, like the direction the mouth of an experimenting test tube is pointing at, incorrect placing round glass apparatus near the edge of a working bench or allowing a blue burning Bunsen flame unattended which can harm anyone who wants to reach for objects near the heating source.
2. Third-party insurance (or liability insurance)
The follow-up of a serious accident is claim for compensation for the victim. Compensation is possible only after a court suing procedure and the victim possesses a third-party insurance premium. Insurance company does not belong to any party, it functions as a mediator, receiving client’s premium and provide professional services.
| First party (第一者) | Insured (受保人) |
| Second party (第二者) | Insurer (投保人) |
| Third party (第三者) | Others (其他人士) |
| Environment | First party | Second party | Third party |
| School | Teachers, students, janitors and other staff | Management authority, (comprehensive insurance covers third-party insurance) | Others, strangers |
| Home | Residents | Landlord | Others, strangers |
| Office | Employee | Employer | Others, strangers |
| Factory | Workers and staff | Employer | Others, strangers |
| Out-door | The accused | Government, property owner | Victim |
Case | Scenario | Third-party insurance |
| 1 | A student was performing experiment in school and caused severe injury to the observing student. The parent of the sufferer sued the school and claimed for compensation. | Not required |
2 | A student was performing experiment in school and caused severe injury to a worker delivering goods. The victim sued the school and claimed for compensation. | Required |
3 | A student was performing experiment at home and seriously hurt the eyes of the watching student. The parent of the sufferer sued the parent of the performing student and claimed for compensation. | Required |
4 | A student paid visit to his/her classmate. Upon leaving the premises, he/she trampled over misplaced objects in the staircase and fell down without control a few steps. As a result, his/her two feet were seriously injured. The parent of the sufferer sued the flat owner and claimed for compensation. | Required |
Third party is not the insured, claim’s prerequisite is to go through a court procedure by suing the accused. Compensation can be approved only when the victim wins the lawsuit.
Students belong to the first party group and schools have already arranged premium for you. Usually for such premium, the insured premises is limited to the school area. Unless the policy has special authorization, students will not obtain first party compensation in case of accidents outside school. If you work outside school in the name of the school and accidentally injured some body and need to pay compensation, then you must possess a third-party insurance policy.
Therefore, you need to find out whether or not the school has arranged a third-party insurance policy for you and the covering area. More information obtainable from the internet.