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Messages - spanner48

#1
"Because safety comes first in the Repair Café" ???

Who says?  I don't.  EFFECTIVENESS comes first.

I have helped out as a volunteer at some 76 RCs over the past 3 years.  But I've had to knock 4 of the RCs on my 'roster' off, because they have "Fallen down the 'E'f-n-Safety Rabbithole". And that is exactly where this sort of legalistic pernicketiness is leading.  Most RCs have a notice at the entrance, which tells people that they should only bring items that they might otherwise throw away; and that they have no grounds for a claim against a volunteer repairer, if the item can't be fixed, or ands up as scrap. That's normally sufficient.

With me, you'd have a volunteer who won't come again if there is a waiver form.  Occasionally I get a form thrust at me, asking me to sign that I have read and agreed to pages of Elf-n-Safety rules and procedures. I always refuse.  If they insist, I leave.

Let's remember, RCs are a community activity, operated by volunteers, out of goodwill.  Not by lawyers and civil servants.