At Girls at Work, Inc. safety is our highest priority. We take every precaution to minimize the risk of injury to our participants and to ensure that everyone learns how to use tools safely and properly.
Although many folks donate used tools to our program, we only use tools that have been purchased by and for Girls at Work. (We are happy to take donations of used tools in good condition, however, we can often sell them and use the money toward new tools for the program.) We regularly inspect our tools to ensure that they are in good working order with all safety guards intact.
We encourage all of the girls to be extremely respectful of the ‘safety zones’ around a person or team using a power tool and we teach them not to step into that zone for any reason. To encourage them to focus and concentrate, we also discourage the girls from talking to anyone other than the person they are building with while they are using tools. The girls are carefully supervised by experienced adult builders. We stress the importance of focusing in the moment. We help the girls to understand that nothing matters more in that moment than paying attention to the power tool that is in their hands (during use). Although our rules are strict, or maybe because they are, we have never had to ask a girl to leave the work area, and no girl has ever been injured while in our program. Thousands of girls have built with us, scratch-free!
