Ok folks I spent several hours cleaning up the saw dust in the majority of the wood shop. Please work to keep it clean like it is, it take minutes to clean up after yourself with the vacuum. Several pieces of equipment had woodchips jammed in the motor. While I was cleaning I watched 5 different people not clean up after themselves. Now that it’s clean there is no reason not to keep it up.
Looks like a good reason for video cameras in the woodshed and a “time out” penalty for gross offenders.
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Thank you for cleaning up.
Seems like people have the expectation of not having to clean up their ‘little bit of sawdust’ when there is sawdust everywhere else. Will be a challenge to change everyones behavior, maybe putting up lots of signs and having everyone police each other would help? The small brown signs on all the workshop doors that I put up when we first moved in don’t seem to be cutting it.
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Signs don’t really affect behavior. If they did they would close the loading dock door. Turn machines off and they may spend the time cleaning up. 
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I have observed that people who will not clean up after themselves…really don’t care. They are devoid of empathy. They don’t care if their environment is indefinitely untidied/littered/filthy. They don’t care about the impact of a un-cared for environment on others with whom they share it. They don’t care if another person makes the space clean. They have no gratitude They just don’t care. If you were to talk to them, they would fix you with a clueless look. Nothing you ever say or post will make a difference. Period.
So, next step, you must ask yourself, “What DO they care about, that is closely related to the offense?”
*** Take that away. ***
You could call me a professional in this field. I’m in the business of teaching empathy and, failing that, creating a feedback loop of natural consequences. I’m a Mom.
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Public flogging… 
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I am not sure you can teach empathy, just do a kind of Pavlovian training to avoid consequences for unacceptable actions. I seem to remember an article that claimed a significant portion of our population were functional socio-paths. And most end up as politicians or CEO’s… I will admit I always though the article was shoddy science, but the idea that a large percentage of our population lacks empathy for others is not too much of a stretch.
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When the RFID system is in place you can lock out certain tools for improper use, lack of training, etc. Not sure if locking people out for being messy is a good idea. But failure to clean up something that causes a hazard is certainly not excellent.
What cause the Great Seattle Fire? Glue boiling over into piles of sawdust and wood chips. Thanks @ke5bud !
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I believe it was the gasoline fire they were using to heat the glue that was the ignition source. Having boiled over a lot of hide glue in my time it isn’t really dangerous, just messy.
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As a hypothetical question, say we banned people from woodshop for not cleaning up after repeat offenses. Would removing membership dues from those people be better than living in a perpetual mess? Would that policy have any negative consequences? How could it be evenly enforced across all members?
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People are going to violate policies regardless of shaming, consequences, etc.
I don’t want to have DMS full of tattle tales.
There have been several times when I have been going back and forth from one area of DMS to the wood shop, or metal shop to fit a piece I was working on. I didn’t clean up after every trip, only at the end when I was finished and was ready to leave. I wouldn’t want to be accused of leaving a mess when I wasn’t finished.
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@paulstaf the issue comes when people doing that don’t clean up at all like I saw last night. It has nothing to do with being a tattle tale, that is a childish name for a not so childish issue. IF it was a little here and there no biggie but its enough that the shop is unsafe. I will post photos of just what I found in a few instances. Its simple, membership to DMS means you agree to abide by the rules of DMS so the space stays great for everyone. The committee chair cant be expected to handle every issue, we as members need to help police issues like this and educate or handle matters when needed. Then when it becomes an issue that someone refuses to do their part we let the committee chair know who handles it. If we don’t maintain what we have it wont last.
I spent 3 to 5 hours a day 5 days a week in a wood shop for three years when I was younger and our shop was spotless with hundreds of kids going through. It is sad that we as adults cant handle a shop 1/5th the size with 800+ members and woodshop being the most active part right now. We are all volunteers here so we cant expect someone else who pays the same membership cost we do and volunteers to be committee chair and take that load to also clean and keep up with the entire space they are assigned. It takes help.
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This is just a small portion of what was left with no one in the shop or using the shop. Every outlet had saw dust inside of it. Almost every piece of equipment had saw dust maxed out inside of it.
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This problem has a simple remedy. Make the following effective ASAP:
Everyone Shall Clean the Tool and The Area at least 10 feet around the tool after the completion of the use. Every Time, No Exceptions. Even if the tool or looks clean.
SawDust, and Wood chips are a funny thing. Even if the floor looks clean, if one is to sweep it, new dust and chips will appear. If one does not sweep after each use, slowly an accumulation of dust will ensue of which no one is truly responsible. Till the very safety hazards pictured above happen. SO Again.
^ EVERYONE MUST Clean Every time!!!^
DMS is not the first to have shared spaces and tools, this method works for the other spaces, and it will prove effective here. There are simple ways to track who left a tool or station dirty. But someone would have to keep records/tabs of that and it would be work; it may be worth doing.
…X…
( Edit: Clarification needed for statement. )
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Ben,
after the completion of the use.
Just for clarification, this means after you are done with the tool(s) for the interval of time of working on a project, right? Not make one pass, inspect, clean, make another pass, clean, etc. ad infinitum - right?
Keep in mind, I am number one with a bullet when it comes to cleaning up after yourself as I have come into the metal shop and found some astounding messes left by some inconsiderate member. But I don’t want to see this go to the other extreme. If someone just cleans up after they are done period, that will be a huge improvement and have a better chance of compliance.
But it sounds like regardless of the rules, there needs to be some video review and warnings passed out which I have yet to see happen. (or maybe it has and I don’t know)
If we have the cameras in there, start identifying the offenders. You can’t enforce rules without consequences.
BTW, good point about the slow accumulation of sawdust and chips.
JAG “Release the Hounds…” MAN
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Correct, you would tag the machine as, “John Smith currently working on this station” Much like we currently do with the 3D printers.
As I stated, “There are simple ways to track who left a tool or station dirty. But
someone would have to keep records/tabs of that and it would be work; it
may be worth doing.”
If for example, you went to use a saw, and it was unacceptably clean:
you would take a set of pictures, and uploaded/email to the person in charge of following this up.
That person would in turn: first make the determination of weather or not it merits follow-up based on the picture evidence.
Second, if it does, track down video of offending member, make contact, make a record of contact.
Third, come up with the just punishment if necessary. .
The best consequence has always been, mandatory field day cleaning of the space by the offending member to be granted access back into the space. Refusal of this means BANHammer. Then those members become the biggest clean freaks.
…X…
( Edits: errors in typing, clarification on statement, reworded sentence. )
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It seems to me that we may be attempting to solve the fundamental problem in a way that will create many more.
I can easily see a situation where someone is working on a project where they spend a lot of time at the bench fitting pieces, and occasionaly run to a machine (say the table saw) to rough the next piece they are working on. Expecting them to stop and completely clean the table saw area after each quick process is a bit much, particularly if there is say 15-30 minutes between uses.
What we want is for them to clean their bench and the area around any power tools they used during their session. Not clean as they go, which is what some of the above sounds like depending upon the particular work flow of an individual.
Lets not overlook the fact that in many case, if not all, the bulk of the debris left is not the slow accumulation of many people, but rather the massive accumulation of one or two, that is then left discouraging others from even noticing what they have contributed.
For instance, I walked through the wood shop Saturday afternoon, and the lathe area and about a 10-15 foot radius around the lathe was covered with lathe shavings that were deep enough you could barely see the floor. That was undoubtedly the creation of one perhaps two people. No one was in there, but I don’t know if they were coming back–nothing was still in the lathe.
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We are makers are we not? I have the same issue at home and that is why I got rid of my table saw. But since this is not an option @DMS perhaps we should come up with some better solutions! Plastic covers over outlets could be 3d printed. What about a grated raised floor to reduce slipping and dust could be blown or sweep to a collection trough for recycling? Have compressed air available at each piece of equipment to spray clean in seconds. Or we could have robotic cleaners… 
Just some ideas to make the area safer and cleaner for everyone.
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The only issue we have with compressed air is then it becomes aerial dust which we already have an issue with due to the large amount of dust left around the shop. It took just a day and a half to dirty the brand new filters for the ventilation system. Another problem is leaving the shop doors open and it spreading to the rest of the shop. The easiest fix is people actually clean up after themselves. Were not at our homes were at DMS, we are not each others maids. Its called being considerate.
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While we are throwing out ideas and taking no actual steps to improve the situation, I think we need a policy in woodshop(or all of workshop) where projects/materials left laying around unattended and unlabeled will be thrown away immediately. Currently we have the situation where people leave their project laying around in woodshop, and then others see that and think they can leave stuff laying around also. Of course that idea also relies on good enforcement, wouldnt want someone using selective enforcement to target / harass another member.
This relates to there needing to be project storage available, but the new project storage rules haven’t gone into effect yet to clear up some space.
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