Safety

Working at the Marine Autonomy Bay, you should be familiar with the below safety issues.

Life Jackets

Always wear a life jacket when on the water. Life jackets may be borrowed from the MIT Sailing supply. For extended work at the water's edge placing and retrieving, a life jacket should also be worn.

MIT Working Alone Policy

MIT's Academic Council adopted a Working Alone Policy for the Institute in 2012. In summary, the policy states:

  • Working alone with hazards should be avoided if possible. (To be clear, at the Pavilion, we consider the water itself to be a hazard. Certainly being out on the water, and also at dock's edge placing and retrieving equipment from the water)
  • Anyone at MIT wanting to work alone with hazards must discuss the proposed work with their PI/Supervisor before working alone.  PIs/Supervisors should be aware of when people in their group are working alone with hazards.  The required discussion is essentially an assessment to ensure that the risk of working alone with the specified hazard(s) is controllable. EHS personnel are available to assist in this evaluation if requested.
  • Undergraduates shall not work alone with hazards without prior written approval from the PI/Supervisor; this approval should only be granted after a risk assessment. MECHE has an updated form for this written approval. (Minors will not work alone with hazards.)
  • Specific Working Alone policies from individual PIs/Supervisors (or in specific spaces or other MIT Departments) that are more restrictive than the above shall take precedence.

The full policy is available for review at http://ehs.mit.edu/site/content/mit-working-alone-policy

Lab heaters during colder weather

Space heaters using heated coils and a fan are strongly discouraged and if used, they must be a short term solution and always attended. An unattended coil space heater is strictly prohibited and will be unplugged and thrown in the trash if discovered.

Boat Safety

Policy to be posted soon: click here for PDF