Originally Posted by
munruben
Well what a can of worms this thread has opened up. Firstly let me say I am a shed leader in my area and we are a member of the AMSA and I was very concerned about my liability should something happen in our shed. I wrote to the AMSA and asked if insurance covered me in the event that a shed member was injured in the shed while using a machine and using a technique I had instructed him to use which in my mind is the safest way I know how to use that machine for a particular cut; my letter was forwarded to the insurance company who I guess AMSA use for its members and I received a reply from the actual insurance company advising that I am covered if such an incident occurred. My shed is funded by a not for profit organisation and the shed is completely run by unpaid,, volunteer members.
As someone mentioned in an earlier post, there are now well over 900 sheds in Australia and with all the legal assumptions made here in this thread, not one post quotes evidence of a shed committee member or supervisor in a shed, being sued and losing all his assets. The Men sheds have been going for quite some time now and as far as I can see, not one person has come forward with concrete evidence of someone losing everything they own due to their being taken to court over the matters mentioned here. Most of these posts are based on supposition and even lawyers apparently don't know the full ramifications involved. Lets face it, if we concerned ourselves with every time we can be held responsible for something we do when we go out of our home; we probably wouldn't leave the safety of our home. We can justify most things using scare tactics and legal jargon of bush lawyers but in reality not one person has cited a legal case that involved a men shed or a men shed supervisor or member. I agree from experience in my local men shed, it is very difficult to make someone do what they dont want to do and that is the real issue so as to prevent them injuring themselves or others in the shed. I think this is the bigger issue here and is something that can be addressed rather than making assumptions and wild claims of what may or may not happen if we are taken to court.
I think it was stated in post 73 that one should never remove a riving knife for instance from a table saw. (I am paraphrasing) This is not always possible in some instances such as some trench cutting or using a dado blade and in these examples it is quite necessary to remove the riving knife..
In reality a court would also take into account the age of the person injured and most shed members are old and in their late 60s and some much older; I doubt there would be pay-outs of hundreds of thousands of dollars for us oldies. Am I really worth that much? hope it doesn't give someone ideas.